Wings of Steel
by packleader96
Summary: after his family is murdered, a young Pegasus sets out to find the ones, who ruined his life, and bring them to justice, by any means neccesary, rated T for violence and language
1. prologue

A/N: this is my first MLP story; positive constructive criticism is always welcome

Disclaimer: I don't own any MLP characters, my little pony belongs to its respective owners

Wings of steel: prologue

Greetings,

My name is princess celestia, high ruler of the beautiful land of equestria, and regent of the sun.

I am here to tell you the story of a young Pegasus, who lost everything in the great fire.

The great fire was a dark day in ponyville's history, even in the darkness of night that I strived very hard to create; I could still see the large, black plume of smoke in the horizon. , and I instantly knew that something terrible had happened.

It wasn't until the next day that the captain of my guards informed me that in the early hours of the night a small fire sparked in one of the houses and in time quickly spread to other neighboring homes and shops. Very few were counted dead but many more were injured or missing.

Two days later the funerals were held for those who died in the roaring blaze, and I being princess attended the funerals, and I personally gave my condolences to those who lost family members.

What I didn't know was that the great fire, or as some had come to know it as the pony Ville incident, was just the key to unlocking a much more deadlier and disastrous chain of events that would unfold in the years to come.


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: Hooray, the next chapter is up, hope you all enjoy.

Wings of steel: chapter 1: the trail runs cold

It was a beautiful night and the full moon shined brightly overhead, and a cool night time breeze blew through the thick trees of the everfree forest.

An uncomfortable silence befell the normally noisy trees and not a single creature was out that night, aside from the young Pegasus that walked quietly through the shadows of the large trees.

The moonlight glistened off his silver coat as, he stepped in a clearing of the forest, and sniffed the air, as the wind blew through his dark blue and black mane.

"Damn" he quietly said to himself "they got away again"

He then took a deep breath and looked up at the moon, "beautiful night" he said to himself, and he then looked down at the small heart-shaped pendant that was hanging from around his neck.

He then took hold and pressed the small button on top that opened it, inside was the picture of a beautiful young mare and a young filly.

He shed a single tear as he brought the pendant up to his lips and lightly kissed it ,"I miss you two" he whispered to it "more than I can bear".

He then looked up to the sky one last time "better find a safe place to sleep for the night" he said "ill start searching again in the morning".

With that he extended his smooth slick wings that also seemed to glisten in the moonlight, and with the proper force he took into the sky and searched for a place to rest.

Fortunately, for him, he didn't have too fly far; he found a nice, soft cloud, high above the forest.

Using his unusually strong wings, he successfully touched down on the cloud with ease, he then proceeded to lay his head down and began to close his eyes and slowly descended into a restless sleep.

A/N: well, that's the first chapter for actual chapter for this story, so… hope you all enjoyed, the next chapter will be longer.


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: hooray, the next chapter is up, as promised this one is much longer, so enjoy everyone.

Wings of steel: chapter 2: memories

The next day, the sun was shining brightly in the sky; the young Pegasus was sitting on the same cloud, with the heart shaped pendant in his hooves.

As he looked at the two pictures of the young mare and filly, painful memories began to swarm his mind.

(Flashback) 2 years ago

It was a quiet night in ponyville, and all shops on the street were closed for the night, all but one.

"Happy anniversary, Steele" said a young mare as she handed her husband a small box.

"Ooh, what is it," said Steele as he took the box and began to open it slowly.

"Come on dad, hurry up and open it' said a young filly with a dark grey coat and a light blue mane, as she bounced around her mom and dad.

As Steele finally opened the small box, he reached inside and pulled out a small heart shaped pendant, with a picture of his wife and foal inside.

"Oh my …!,its beautiful, star thank you", he said kissing her on the cheek as he slid it around his neck so that it dangled in front of his chest "ill never take it off".

"Now" ,he said raising from the soft chair he was sitting in "I need to give you my gift", so he began to search his coat and the table, but he couldn't find it anywhere, so he began to panic.

"Something wrong, honey" said star from the living room.

"No nothing … wait, ah pony-feathers" he said a little too loud.

"Are you okay Steele" he heard his wife say worriedly as she appeared in the kitchen.

"No, everything's fine star it's just that I think I left my gift for you back at the shop." he said lowering his head."Oh its okay you can go and get it if you want, and maybe when you get back I'll give you a real anniversary present" she said seductively as she turned, causing her tail to brush under his chin.

When he heard this, a goofy smile appeared on his face "you really are the best, ill be right back I promise" He said as he gave her a quick kiss on the lips as he moved to grab his coat and opened the door

"Hurry back" she yelled after him as he closed the door.

(End flashback)

As her words echoed off in his head, he drew a deep shaky breath as tears began to form in his eyes.

But he couldn't help as even more memories came back to him.

(Flashback) 2 years ago

As Steele was rummaging through his metal shop he couldn't help but be in a very happy mood, he was married to star for 2 years now and they have a beautiful foal by the name of gingersnap.

As he was looking for his gift, he was humming to himself a merry tune, and when he finally found it "aha there you are" he said picking up the small box that contained a small diamond ring strung on a golden necklace. "You'll be the perfect anniversary gift for her" he said to himself.

He also remembered her promise of giving him a "special" anniversary gift when he got back, which only heightened his mood.

After finding his gift, he started to go through the shop to make sure everything was secure and safe. after he was satisfied he headed for the front door he began to have a feeling things weren't right, but he quickly dismissed it as he began to lock the front door of his shop.

As he finished locking up the door he noticed a small smudge on the window, using his coat, after he cleaned it, he noticed something in the reflection that made his blood run cold.

As he turned to find out what it was, his fur and skin paled whiter than his coats natural silver color, as he noticed a large tower of smoke coming from the direction of his own home.

With out any second thought he raced home as fast as his hooves could carry him praying to celestia above that it wasn't his house or his family in danger.

(End flashback)

At this point Steele had almost lost all control of himself as hot tears began to spill down his cheeks and onto the cloud beneath him.

But, he was helpless to resist as the most painful memories of all was forced back into his mind.

(Flashback) 2 years ago

As Steele raced through the streets he began to notice other citizens of ponyville begin to gather around where his house was, and as he pushed through the crowd of other ponies his worst fears were realized, when he saw that his home along with many others were up in flames.

He felt his heart sink as he saw his home burning; he then began to ask if anypony had seen his wife and foal get out of the fire.

Unfortunately, he got his answer when he heard a scream that was all too familiar to him come from his home.

"Oh no… star!" He said as he ran towards the building, only to be stopped by two royal guards that blocked his path. "Sorry sir but you can't go in there, it's too dangerous".

I don't care, let me go, my wife's in there! He yelled at the guards, but they refused to move out of his path.

"Sorry, but the place is getting weaker by the minute, we already have a team dispatched to get the ones who are trapped out".

As the guards began to lead Steele away, he heard his wife scream again, and that seemed to push him over the edge. Using his body strength he overpowered the guards and pushed them to the side. He then proceeded to run into the burning building.

(End flashback)

Finally, Steele had lost control of his emotions as he began to cry, as the tear drops rolled off his face and hit the cloud beneath him, the cloud seemed to turn dark gray as if it were mimicking his emotions.

But none the less the memories didn't stop coming.

(Flashback) 2 years ago

As Steele ran into the building, he instantly noticed that the guards were right, the building was in total flames and would collapse any minute, but he didn't care he wasn't leaving without his wife.

As he proceeded into the building he began to call her name out, while also dodging falling pieces of wood and stone.

"STAR!" He yelled at the top of his lungs trying to locate her, luckily it worked, "Steele, I'm over here, help me!"

As he followed her voice to their kitchen he found her under the table trying to avoid getting crushed by debris, "come on, let's get out of here before this place falls on top of us!"

As she took hold of his hoof he said "follow me, I know the way", and so they began to run through the burning building "where's gingersnap!" he asked her "she's already outside, in an ambulance" she answered back sorrowfully.

As they continued running, everything seemed to slow down, for next thing he heard was a large beam falling and his wife yelling in pain. He turned around to find star's back hoof pinned under a large beam. "Steele, help! I can't move my hoof" deciding not to leave her he began to push and buck the beam the hardest he could, but to no avail.

"Its no use, it's too heavy, I can't move it!" He told her, he then saw the sadness in her eyes as she looked up to him, "its okay, I understand, go Steele leave me here, save yourself".

"What… no! Im not leaving you were getting out of here together!" He said to her but it wasn't convincing enough. She looked in his eyes, "Steele listen to me, you need to get out of here before we both die! Just go, take care of gingersnap, and tell her I love her! She said to him as tears began to form in both of their eyes.

"No… I won't…I can't live with out you! I love you" he said whispering the last part into her ear as fear and sadness filled his voice. She used her free hooves to cup his face "I love you too, more than anything in the world, but it wouldn't matter if both of us die, just go leave me here!"

As he listened to her tears began to spill from their eyes, "kiss me, one last time" she whispered into his ear. As she told him this the building continued to collapse, he leaned down and gave his wife one final kiss goodbye, for he knew deep down inside that he would never see her again. time seemed to slow as he kissed her, but when he opened his eyes and their lips parted, "never forget that I will always love you" she said to him as a nearby wall began to collapse, "now go, get out of here" she yelled at him.

Now understanding, Steele rose and began to run for the nearest exit as tears spilled down his cheeks, when he stopped to look back one last time at his beloved wife, he noticed the roof began to give way on top of her.

"Star…"he said as the ceiling caved in on top of his wife "STAR! NOOOO!" He yelled at the top of his lungs as his wife was buried in debris. All he could do was stare at the spot where his wife died, at this point he felt like giving up and that all hope was lost, at that point he felt like just sitting there and letting himself die along with her, until he remembered her last wish, for him to live and take care of their foal, and that was exactly what he intended to do for her sake.

As he turned to leave he noticed that during his final words with star, the falling debris had blocked his original path. He also noticed the building was starting to fully collapse, he had to act fast as he began to search for an alternate way to escape; he noticed an open window on the far side of the room.

Using his new found strength he charged forward dodging falling beams and blocks of stone. When he finally reached the window, he began to recognize a smell that being a metal worker recognized and knew all to well; when he turned he noticed a canister of oil that was just barely being touched by the flames.

Before he could react, he was blinded by a fiery explosion that blew a hole in the wall that was behind him; the resulting force of the blast caused him to fly out of the window a smack hard against the wall of the other house and slid into the alley below.

All though not unconscious the blast did leave him dazed, only when he snapped out of it did he see that a few beams from the building were about to fall right on top of him, using the last of his strength, he attempted to roll out of the he only managed to move out of the way of the beams completely crushing him, the next thing he knew, was that he felt an incredible pain on his wings. When he looked up he saw that his wings were pinned by the same two beams that were going to crush him.

With what was left of his strength, he used it to push the smoldering beams off his wings and to the side. After he did that he tried to extend his wings only to feel immense pain. While trying to examine the wounds he heard the noise of other citizens and members of the royal guards begin to search the alleyways, he began to fear that if he was found he would be accused of starting the fires in the first place.

Instead of flying off to find help with his injuries, he took off to hide till the guards passed by, he then left in search of someone who could help.

(End flashback)

After retaining his composure he said "im sorry, I failed you star" he then reached into one of the pockets of his cloak and pulled out another small box with a little age wear on it he opened it up and pulled out a shiny diamond necklace with a gold chain. As he took a closer look at the ring he sees the small phrase he had engraved on the ring when he first bought a few days before their anniversary

The engraving said "together forever" he repeated the phrase over and over "I swear I will find who killed you and bring them to justice, even if I have to die trying."

But unfortunately, his thoughts were interrupted by an ear piercing scream coming from the forest below; he realized that it was somepony in trouble so he took off into the air in search of the source.

A/N: that's it for now, my friends. I will have the next chapter up soon (probably with in a day or two). And yes the next chapter is where our favorite heroes make their first appearance in the story. See you all next time.


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: the next chapter is up for you all to enjoy, things get real interesting in this chapter.

Wings of steel: chapter 3: first encounter

It was a beautiful day, and the sun was shining brightly in the sky over the everfree forest, as the light tried to push its way through the thick leaves.

A young unicorn with a lavender coat and a stripped mane was walking along a dirt path that led to her home in ponyville. As she was walking the few rays of light that managed to squeeze through the trees was making her beautiful coat shine.

"What a beautiful day, wouldn't you agree spike?" she asked the young purple and green dragon riding on her back

"Yeah it is, but even in the day time this place still gives me the creeps" replied spike as he shivered

"That's why we left zecora's hut early, so we could get back to ponyville before the sun sets" she told him as they continued a steady pace.

"Don't you think we would have been there by now?" he asked her "I think we might be lost, twilight" he said with a slight hint of fear in his voice.

"Don't be ridiculous, spike, I've come this way many times before" she said confidently as she continued to walk down the path at a slightly quicker pace than before. Another ten minutes of silence came between the two as they walked; spike began to notice that the trees began to grow thicker and taller.

Soon after twilight stopped at what seemed to be a crossroad in the forest "on second thought, maybe we are lost" she said and smiled sheepishly towards the dragon. Spike just had his arms crossed as he jumped off her back and walked up next to her. "Well then lets just go back and ask zecora for directions" spike suggested only to be interrupted by twilight putting a hoof to his mouth to silence him.

"What…what is it twilight?" asked spike quietly as he looked around, trying to see what the unicorn was looking at. "You mean you don't hear that" she asked him. Spike listened closer and at first he didn't hear anything, then he heard what he thought was someone calling for help out off the trail.

"It sounds like someone calling for help" said twilight as she looked off to the right of the path. "Way out here? I don't know twilight, something doesn't feel right" spike said "look all I know is that somepony needs our help and we need to find them before nightfall, now are you coming or what?" she said sternly to the young dragon. He just crossed his arms and sighed "fine" he said defeated

He then jumped on her back as she took off in source of the voice that cried for help, it didn't take long for them to find the place it originated from, as they cleared the last tree line they came into a large clearing in the forest, but with no pony in sight.

"Hello" she called out but there was no response, "maybe it was just my imagination tricking me" she said with her head down "but it couldn't be, not if I heard it too" he answered back. "It doesn't matter lets just get home before the sun sets for the night" she said as she turned and began to walk back into the tree line.

As she almost reached it, suddenly she heard a bone chilling laugh come from behind her, as she jumped around in fear only to see a hooded figure come out of the shadows of the forest in front of her.

"Well, well, well what do we have here?" he said in a raspy kind of voice "sorry sir, but were you the one who called out for help" she asked the strange stallion with a small hint of fear in her voice.

"Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't, now what's a sweet, beautiful young unicorn like you doing out in the forest at this time? It's almost dark, you know". He said in a cold voice. "Yes we know we just heard somepony call for help from this direction" she answered him.

"Well, If you are fine then well just be on our way, do you know what direction ponyville is in by any chance?" She asked him hoping he had an answer, but unfortunately it wasn't the one they were looking for.

"If only it were that easy, my dear" he responded in the same cold and raspy voice as before. It was then that twilight realized it was a big mistake coming here, as she turned to leave she noticed two hooded ponies coming in from the left and right and two more from behind.

As she turned back to the first one she noticed he had a sick smile on his face. "At last we meet the famous twilight sparkle in the flesh, isn't this truly a wonderful day". As he said this the other four ponies began to form a circle around her and spike. "Who are you, what do you want with us, let us go now" she told him but he just continued to smile. "my name is blade and I'm afraid I cant do that miss sparkle, you see we were hired to find you and, well I think you can guess the rest." He said as his group finished forming there circle around the unicorn and dragon.

"Let us go now" she repeated fear evident in her voice "or you'll what" he said stepping forward, challenging her. "Or I'll…I'll fight back" this comment just made the blade and his group laugh to tears, "oh… that's funny!" he said whipping tears from his eyes. After finally calming down he said "in case you didn't notice there are five of us and only two of you, so how do you plan on fighting back". He said continuing to step forward.

Twilight could not respond to this as, she realized he was right they were completely outnumbered. "Enough talk, take care of them" he said motioning for his followers to start. As twilight began to look frantically for a spot she could make a run for it she saw that one of the hooded ponies was starting to jump in the air in her direction. She knew she didn't have long so she used a spell she remembered practicing a few days ago. As she concentrated her energy to her horn, it started to glow as a force field came around her and spike, as the pony in mid-air hit the shield he was repelled and shot a good five feet in the air, unfortunately it didn't do much good, for he landed perfectly on his back hooves.

After she did this the leader just smiled and said "ooh…a little fight in you, I like that in my mares" he then looked at the rest of his group he said "finish them". At this point spike did what he could to protect twilight, but the strength of the five strange ponies was far to greater for the young dragon, as he jumped one to one of there backs he proceeded to pull at his mane as hard as possible, but it wasn't enough and the male pony just shook him off hard enough so that he flew into a nearby tree and was knocked unconscious.

"Spike!" twilight yelled as she was being overwhelmed by other opponents, when she finally felt she lost, she was being forced and pinned to the ground by one of the ponies. She looked up and saw blade looking down at her. She began to cry at this point in fear for her friend and her own life. She looked up at him again with teary eyes and said "why are you doing this to us, please just let us go" she begged as tears began to pour down her cheeks. "Like I said, I can't do that, but don't worry we wont kill you yet, first were going to have a little fun with you" as he said the last part a sinister smile was on his face as they began to drag her away. As she was being dragged away she used the last of her energy to scream as loud as she could in hope that someone would hear her and come to the rescue.

When she did this her only response was a hard slap across the face from one of her captors, "shut up no one can hear you out here, you're alone" using some of her remaining strength she turned her head to the side, and bit down as hard as she could on the nearest hoof, causing the owner to scream in pain, as she bit down she began to feel a liquid flow into her mouth and she realized it was blood.

When he pulled his hoof away, clutching it with his free hoof, he screamed "why you little bitch!" as he smacked as hard as he could across the face again, nearly knocking her out.

As they reached the tree line they looked at her and then continued on, only to be interrupted by another voice from above as a shadow crossed over them and landed hard on the ground in the middle of the clearing, creating a small dust cloud around him.

"Hey you!" He said gesturing to the five hooded ponies "let her go now" he said pointing his hoof at a now fully aware twilight. "And who might you be?" asked blade.

"It doesn't matter who I am, but you better let her go or else" he said the last part slowly. "Or else what" said blade as he was now fully facing his new opponent. "Or I'll have to make you", this only resulted in yet another fit of laughter from blade and his group. "Oh…this day just keeps getting better" he said as he calmed down.

But the newcomer still had a serious face. "I really don't have time for this, okay if you want your little mare-friend than come and get her", he then motioned for his men to surround the newcomer. As he looked up to blade he said "you're making a huge mistake". This just earned another chuckle from blade "is that right, well let's find out then" as he motioned for his followers to attack "kill him" he said.

The ponies surrounding the newcomer began to pull out knives that were concealed under their cloaks until now; everything seemed to quiet down as the first pony made his move. And the new pony, expecting it quickly turned to his side and used all his force in bucking him in the chin as he came closer, the resulting force was enough to completely shatter his jaw as he flew a good 15 feet and smacked hard against the trunk of the same tree that spike was laying underneath.

The remaining ponies, now completely surprised began to charge all at once, as they all dived in at the same time, the newcomer just side stepped as they all collided in the air, at this point he drew a knife of his own as he placed it in his mouth, he charged forward and tackled the nearest pony and knocked the wind out of him.

As he lay there he saw another one coming up from behind, when he turned to meet this he attempted to duck but to no avail he received a long but shallow cut along his side. As he refocused he brought his hoof to his side as and brought it back only to find a small trickle of blood on it.

During these events twilight had snuck away and ran to the unconscious spike and attempted to wake him so they could escape, but she felt she couldn't leave the one who saved her life.

As the fight continued, blade saw that his soldiers were wounding the newcomer, but he also noticed that it was taking its toll on his followers.

At this point in time the newcomer had received more than one injury, there were cuts all over his body, down to his chest, there were even some on his cheeks, but he did just as much damage to them alone.

As the remaining two came back he saw one of them jump into the air and attempt to strike his side, he did nothing to move, as the blade came down on his right wing, he felt no pain instead he heard a familiar loud metallic clang as the assailant dropped the knife and was clutching his hoof screaming in pain. "What in the world?" he said in shock as he clutched his hoof, "surprise" he said as he turned around and bucked him in the chest, sending him flying and crashing into the ground in front of blade.

After all the fighting, he finally began to feel a little weak from the blows and the knife wounds, but he just shook it off, and refocused on the task at hand, he had to save this poor unicorn from whatever they were going to do to her, and he had a pretty good idea.

After growing tired from this pointless fighting blade shouted "enough!" when he said this all four reappeared at his side and he said "well aren't you quiet the opponent". He then laughed "very well you win this round, count yourself lucky that we have other places to be." he then turned to twilight who was still having trouble waking the unconscious spike, "well get you next time, little girl, and then you wont have your little friend around to protect you" as he said that he drew what looked like a hoof full of beads, he then through them at the ground, causing a bright flash and a small smoke screen, as the smoke cleared he saw that they had vanished.

He then breathed a heavy sigh of relief as he turned around and walked up to the lavender unicorn, cradling the small purple dragon. "Are you alright?" he asked her kindly.

She looked up in his eyes and said "yes I am, but my friend is unconscious" when he looked at the dragon an instantly knew that he was okay. "Hell be fine, he's just going to wake up with a major headache" he said with a small chuckle, twilight herself couldn't help but smile at his comment and giggle.

He then got back up and proceeded to look around in case they would come back, "I guess I should thank you" she said from behind. "For what?" he asked her, "for saving my life, if you hadn't come along I don't know what they would have done to me" she answered back, "yes well, I was on a cloud above the forest lost in thought and suddenly I heard a loud scream coming from the forest, and so I took off to find where it came from, and I find you being attacked by those brutes, I couldn't stand seeing somepony in trouble" he said turning around to face her

"But still thank you, I'm twilight by the way, twilight sparkle" she said warmly as she extended her hoof out, "my names Steele" he said taking her hoof and gently shaking it, "if you don't mind me asking, what are you doing out here in the middle of the forest?" He asked her, "well I was trying to find my way home and I guess I took a wrong turn…a lot of wrong turns" she replied sheepishly.

She then noticed his wounds for the first time "you need help your losing a lot of blood" she said with worry. "Don't worry about me I'll be fine I've been in worse situations than this" he reassured her then he told. "Well, miss sparkle, in light of recent events; allow me to escort you home.

"No thank you that's alright I think we can find our way home from here" and she proceeded to leave. "well than you are all ready going the wrong way" he said and smiled, this caused her to stop and turn around, "maybe you can escort us home if you don't mind" she said with an embarrassed smile on her face.

"Of course not, follow me, this way" he said and began walking through the woods, during the whole walk with Steele twilight began to tell him about all her adventures with her friends and how she was the princess's personal student.

After walking for awhile spike woke up and twilight had to explain to him everything that he missed, much to his disappointment

After another long period of walking, that finally reached the edge of the forest and could see ponyville, and when they emerged, twilight couldn't be happier, "would you like to come meet my friends" she asked him. But she didn't get and answer and when she turned around to Steele she saw a look of pure horror on his face.

"You…l-l-live here in ponyv-v-ville" he asked as he shook in terror, "Steele is there something wrong" she asked concerned

Steele's vision began to blur as the effects from the wounds he received in battle were starting to finally take effect. As he began to sway back and fourth he fell to his side and passed out.

"Steele!" Twilight shouted as she ran to him to feel his pulse, much to her relief he still had one, she than got an idea she looked to her assistant and said "spike, fluttershy's house isn't far from here so go get her help and hurry!. He didn't waste a second as he took off in her direction.

Using the last of her energy she tried to levitate him, but found it extremely difficult, "why are so heavy" she said to herself as she managed to lift him up and head in the direction of her friends house.

A/N: well there you have it, that's a rap for now. In the next chapter, any questions you may have will be answered, until then feel free to make any guesses.


	5. Chapter 4

A/N: yes, chapter 4 is up, so enjoy everybody

Wings of steel: chapter 4: introductions

It had been two days since the encounter with blade, deep in the everfree forest, and twilight and spike had fully recovered from their minor injuries in the fight.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Steele, due to his loss of blood and other injuries, he was forced into what seemed to be a coma and still had not awaken yet.

Twilight and her friends had been to fluttershy's house frequently to check on him.

"How is he today"? Twilight asked her friend as she prepared to go check on him again. "He's fine twilight, but he's still asleep, don't you think we should take him to the hospital".

"its crossed my mind, but something tells me that's not what he would want" she answered her friend "okay if you say so, I have to go check on him again" she said as she walked up the stairs to the room where he was staying.

As she opened the door and walked in, she found him still asleep. She sighed and began to leave until the sun had shined down through the window and onto the bed.

As fluttershy closed the door, something caught her eye on the other side of the room, she noticed something shiny under the sheets that was reflecting the light into her eyes. When she walked up quietly up to the bed she gently pulled the covers away to see what was causing the light. She didn't get much of a look at it, but she saw it none the less, and it shocked her beyond belief.

(Steele's dream)

When Steele opened his eyes, he found himself in a pitch black room, with no light anywhere.

"Hello?" he called out to the empty blackness, but he got no response as he started to walk through the dark, not long after he heard a strange voice, "Steele" said a haunting voice from the darkness

"hello, who's there?" he asked out, he only got the same answer as before, he took off running in the direction of the voice.

It didn't take long to find the source, for soon enough he saw a figure out in the distance, as he approached it he say that it was a pony that looked all to familiar, "star…is that you?" he sais as tears of happiness filled his eyes as he ran to her.

When he finally reached her, "I've missed you so much" he said as he put a hoof on her shoulder and turned her around, only to find something that made his blood freeze over and his smile to be replaced by a look of pure horror.

Indeed, it was his wife, but instead of her beautiful hazel colored eyes, there was nothing but two black holes that seemed to go on forever.

He was to shocked to even scream, "why didn't you save me?" it asked in a voice that wasn't his wife's, he just stood there standing at the thing imitating his beloved wife.

"Why didn't you save me?" it repeated as it began to walk towards him, "I-I-I'm sorry" he said with pure fear in his voice as he backed up and tripped over an unknown object.

"you left me to die, in that fire" it said as it stood over him, all he could do was watch as it raised up a hoof with a sharp knife in it, "no!, star don't" he begged but it didn't listen as it brought the knife down on his neck.

(Reality)

Steele woke up screaming at the top of his lungs, and the only answered he received was a shrill squeal as the door slammed shut.

As he calmed down, he realized that it was just a horrible nightmare, when he looked around and didn't see any gruesome imitation of his dead wife, only a normal bedroom, in a normal house.

After, about ten minutes, he heard the door open again and a familiar lavender unicorn, followed by a quivering yellow Pegasus.

"Thank celestia, your finally awake" twilight said happily as she came up to the side of the bed, "where am I?" Steele asked as he looked around his surroundings. "You're at my friend fluttershy's house on the outskirts of ponyville" she answered calmly.

When he heard this, a chill when down through his spine, a then he realized that his return home probably trigged that nightmare, "what happened?" he asked looking her in the eyes.

"Well, after we got out of the forest, I guess your injuries finally took their toll on you, and you passed out, so I brought you here" she answered his question with a small giggle.

"How long have I been out?" he asked her curiously, "about two days now" she answered him, "how are you feeling?" she asked him, "well, I feel better" he told her.

He then looked at the cowering Pegasus behind her and smiled, "you must be Miss Fluttershy, twilight told me much about you, and how you love to take care of animals" he said calmly to her. This compliment caused her to come out from behind twilight and smile at him.

"well, I am truly grateful for your hospitality, miss fluttershy, but I really should be leaving" he said kindly before he began to get out of bed, only to be met by a sharp pain in his left side, which caused him to fall back in the sitting position.

"Please, your still injured, stay in bed" fluttershy asked in a motherly tone. After a few moments of silence, fluttershy asked "excuse me, mister Steele, but I couldn't help but notice, what happened to your wings" she said in a worried tone.

When he heard her say this, "oh…so I guess, you saw them" he said looking down at the sheets. As he pulled back the sheets to reveal his wings, what they saw next shocked them beyond belief.

Indeed, he still had wings, but when twilight saw them, she instantly knew that they were not the wings he was born with. Instead she wings that seemed to be made of pure metal. "But…how is that possible?" twilight asked still half-shocked.

"Yeah…you two aren't the first to have that reaction" he said with a slight chuckle. "What happened to you?" twilight asked very concerned. "It's not a pretty story" he asked as he fully extended his metallic wings. "But…long story short, I was in a terrible accident, and my wings were broken beyond healing, luckily I am very skilled in metal-working, and so I made myself these" he said looking up at them again.

"How did you manage to connect them with your body, and what happened to your original wings?" she asked with a hint of suspicion. "I shouldn't half to tell you that, twilight". He said looking in her eyes. When twilight realized what he meant, she gulped.

"Well, were sorry to hear that" she said to him. "Yes, well I appreciate your concern" he said back. "One more thing, when I told you that I lived in ponyville, you looked as if you saw a ghost or something" she asked as her curiosity increased. When she asked this his smile disappeared and he said "let's just say that I have a bad history here, a lot of painful memories" he said sadly as he looked away.

After a minute of silence, suddenly Steele yawned loudly and said "I guess I'm still kind of tired" he said as he started to lie down again. "Okay, well let you get some sleep then" she said as they walked back to the door and closed it behind them.

"Twilight, the princess needs to hear about this, why haven't you told her?" fluttershy asked as they walked back down to the living room. "I know, but I wanted to wait until he woke up, I think the princess will be very interested in him, but your right, I'll send her a message tomorrow" she said as they reached the front door and twilight left to go to the library and get some sleep herself.

A/N: this chapter and the next are shorter, but the ones after that will be longer.


	6. Chapter 5

A/N: yes the next chapter is up, for all to enjoy

Wings of steel: chapter 5: a visit from royalty

The next day, after a better night sleep, Steele felt up to the challenge to try and walk. Under close instruction from his new friend fluttershy, he managed to walk at a usual pace. Also after being asked by twilight, Steele agreed to finally meet the rest of her friends later that day.

As he got out of bed and made his way to the door, he began to sway back and forth and had to be caught by twilight and fluttershy. After having his cloak fixed up by rarity, the other day, he put it on and tucked his wings under it, as they made there way down to the living room.

As they finally reached the staircase, he had some trouble climbing down them, and on occasion he almost fell, but was caught by fluttershy. As they finally stepped into the living room, steele saw four unfamiliar ponies sitting around the room staring at him, and he assumed that they were twilights other friends.

"Steele, let me introduce to you my other friends" twilight said as she turned back to him and smiled. "My names rainbow dash, fastest flyer in all of equestria" said a cyan blue Pegasus as she landed in front of him and puffed out her chest proudly. Something about this mare, seemed familiar, but steele just pushed that thought aside, and focused on the next pony.

"Howdy partner, the names applejack" said a orange earth pony wearing a cowboy hat as she shook his hoof rapidly causing him to shake and the others to laugh. He knew that this pony was hard working one.

"Hi! I'm pinkie pie, I love to throw parties" said a hyperactive pink earth pony as she suddenly appeared in his face, but he quickly dismissed it and backed away out of her face and turned to the last pony.

"Hello dear, my name is rarity, I make the dresses at the local boutique" said a white unicorn as she gently extended her hoof and shook his politely. He had a feeling that she would be the drama queen type.

"And of course, you already met my friend fluttershy" twilight said as she turned and faced him again. "Well, it certainly is a pleasure to meet you all face to face; twilight here has told a lot about you girls" he said warmly to them.

"Please the pleasure is all ours, to meet the one who saved our dear twilights life". Rarity said back to him. "Oh, so I take it she told you about that already" he asked looking back at all of them. "Well, of course dear, something like that doesn't get dismissed quickly you know" rarity said again.

"She's right, twilight here couldn't exactly explain it right, so we've been waiting for you to wake up and tell us yourself "said rainbow dash as they began to form a circle around him. "Yeah were all waiting to hear how you saved twilight from those big meanie ponies in the forest" said pinkie as she waited impatiently.

"Indeed, so am I" said a voice that sounded all to familiar to twilight and her friends, but left Steele clueless. Suddenly the room was filled with a shining bright light that forced all of them to cover their eyes. As the light cleared, there stood the graceful, and majestic princess celestia in the flesh.

Immediately, twilight and her friends, dropped what they were doing and did a respectful bow, steele himself was shocked to see the princess herself, but still proceeded to do the best bow he could do in his still injured state. "Hello, twilight sparkle, it is so good to see you and your friends again" the princess warmly as she looked at her student and her friends.

"Princess Celestia, what are you doing here?" twilight asked her mentor trying not to sound rude, luckily the princess didn't seem to notice. "I got our letter not long ago, and what I read really interested me, I am surprised you didn't tell me about this sooner, this is very serious" she said looking down at her student with a calm face. "I'm sorry princess, but I wanted to wait till our new friend Steele was awake finally" she said looking at the ground sadly, fearing the look of disappointment in het mentors eyes, luckily that seemed to answer the princess's question.

"yes, indeed" she said as she turned and faced steele who was still in a bowing position, when he saw that the princess was staring at her, he did his best to stand up straight and look presentable, unfortunately it didn't work very well.

"You must be Steele, twilight has told me much about you in her letter, she said that you saved her life, for this you have my gratitude" she said to the young Pegasus, when he heard her say this he calmed down and smiled at the princess. "It was nothing really, your majesty, she was in trouble and I did my best to help her, that's all, but unfortunately it didn't go as I planned and I got pretty injured myself" he said a little embarrassed.

"Yes, twilight told me about your injuries, even what happened to your wings" she said with a straight face. When Steele heard this his smiled disappeared again and he looked down. "Do you care to show us?" she asked as she waited patiently. As much as Steele didn't want to explain what happened again, he knew he couldn't say no to princess celestia.

As the others looked on with interest, he knew he had no choice; he looked at twilight, who just simply nodded. He then looked to his side as he slowly began to extend his wings, as they slowly left the comfort under his cloak, the next thing he heard was a large amount of gasps coming from around the room.

When he opened his eyes, he looked around and saw that all of the ponies in the room had shocked expressions, except for twilight and fluttershy, he looked up at the princess, and much to his surprise, the princess herself had a slightly shocked expression on her face."Yeah, like I told twilight and fluttershy you aren't the first to have that reaction" he said as his wings were now fully extended and shining in the sunlight, that was coming from a nearby window.

The princess was the first to speak after the few minutes of silence, "this is very interesting, in all the years of my rule, I have never seen an injury quite like this" she said calmly, but still amazed. "But haven't some ponies tried to imitate this kind of craft before, princess" said twilight as she steeped forward. "Yes, many have tried in the past, but most if not all have met disastrous results, but never before have seen it completed let alone see it work so well". She said as she looked down at her student.

"However did you get them?" the princess asked turning her attention back to Steele, as he tucked his wings back under his cloak. "Well, its…kind of a long story, your highness, and definitely not a pretty one" he said as he looked back up to the princess. "Ah…but long stories are the best ones" the princess replied with a slight smile on her face.

"Well…it all started the day my wife died in the great fire", he said as he looked down at the ground in sadness. When the princess heard this her smile completely disappeared from her face. And all the ponies in the room gasped, except for twilight, who just stood there with a confused look on her face. "Wait, what's the great fire?" when she said this all her friends, including her mentor turned to look at her.

"yes, ah remember that, when I was just a filly." Applejack said as she talked for the first time since she introduced herself to Steele. "Ya'll probably wont know of that, since you weren't born here in ponyville, like most of us" applejack said as she faced twilight.

"Indeed, they are right twilight, but to properly inform you, the great fire was a dark day in ponyville's history, a small fired sparked and in time caught many of the nearby houses on fire, luckily there were few deaths, but many were missing or injured" she said with a grim face.

"Yes…my wife and my foal died in that fire, unfortunately, I broke my wigs beyond healing, but luckily for me I was skilled in metal working, so I made these". He said as he looked at his wings again.

"Do you care to tell us the rest of the story" the princess asked still very patient. As Steele began to explain what happened that night, he could feel those horrible memories flashback in his mind, and it tortured him so much, but he had to continue.

When he finally finished telling the story, he looked around the room and saw that all the ponies were silent, some had tears brimming in their eyes, and even the princess herself had misty eyes when he finished his sad story. Steele himself did not have tears, because he told this story many times before.

"yes, well as princess let me say that I am truly sorry for your loss, no pony should have to go through that kind of pain, especially seeing their loved ones die before their eyes" she said as she attempted to dry her eyes. "Thank you, your majesty, it means a lot coming from you" he said as he attempted to smile.

"Now if you will excuse me, I have some other important royal duties in canterlot" she said as she disappeared in a bright flash, the same way she entered. As she left, Steele turned to face twilight and her friends and found them staring at him, with tears in their eyes. As they dried their eyes, he left and returned to the bedroom, before they could ask him any questions.

A/N: well that raps it up for now, again for now, see you all next time.


	7. Chapter 6

A/N: here it is, enjoy

Wings of steel: chapter 6: memory lane

As Steele returned to the bedroom, he knew he didn't have long before twilight and her friends, would be along to ask him questions. His best chance, was to leave as quickly as possible, he would have to leave ponyville by nightfall.

As he began to put on his knife holster, along with his cloak, he heard something clack to the floor and saw that it was the small black box, that he had from a few days ago, he sighed as he picked it up, sat on the bed and looked inside of it, and found the exact same gold necklace with the diamond ring on it.

As he put it in his cloak, he shed a single tear, for he knew he couldn't be here after nighttime, not on this night. Unfortunately, his thoughts were interrupted by the clacking of hooves coming down the hall, so he quickly hid the box in the pocket of his cloak.

When he heard somepony knocking on the door, he knew he couldn't just leave without at least saying goodbye, to his new friends. "Yes, come in" he said as he turned his back to the door, and heard it open.

"Steele, its me twilight" she said as she opened the door and found him with his back to her. "Steele, what are you doing?" she asked as she closed the door behind her using her magic. "I'm leaving" he said flatly to her with his back.

"What, but your still injured, why do you have to leave now?" she asked concern evident in her voice. "I already told you why" he said as he stilled refused to look her in the eyes. "Why didn't you tell us what happened to you, and why you are so afraid of this town?" she asked as she slowly stepped forward. "At the time it wasn't important" he said with a very slight hint of anger in his voice.

"Steele, please don't go, you don't have to run, you can stay here and finish healing" she said as she approached him, Steele only sighed heavily and replied, "I'm sorry twilight, but I really cant, I have to leave here by tonight" he said sadly.

"But why, why do you have to leave by tonight, what's so important that you have to leave while your still injured?" she asked with heavy concern as she placed a hoof on his shoulder, but that was when he snapped.

As he quickly spun around, knocking her hoof off his shoulder, and catching her off balance as she steeped back a few feet, as she starred into his eyes, all she saw was hate and pain. "You want to know why?" he yelled in her face as she fell on her back with him towering over her, "Because…" he said as he calmed down and avoided her gaze, immediately regretting what he had done. "because, today was the day they died, today, two years ago, I watched my wife burn to death right in front of my eyes, and I was helpless to save her, and it doesn't help the fact that today is also our anniversary" he said as he looked into her eyes with tears forming in his own, all he could do was sit down on the bed and avoid her gaze, knowing that he might have just lost her as a friend.

As twilight lifted herself off of the ground, she sighed and walked over to him and sat on the bed next to him. "Listen Steele, I may not know what it's like to lose somepony you love, more or less not be able to help them, but what I do know is that you cant keep blaming yourself for what happened all those years ago, you cant keep all that anger and pain inside you, it'll just kill you, running and hiding from your past wont make it better" she said as she put her hoof around his shoulder again.

Steele was helpless as a barrage of tears fell from his eyes, as much as he didn't want to admit it, he knew deep down that twilight was indeed right. "Here you should take a look at this" he said handing her the small black box that was in his cloak. "What is it?" she asked as she levitated it from his hoof and began to open it. "It's the anniversary gift I was going to give my wife that night, but it seems fate has a twisted sense of humor".

"Oh my… its beautiful, you were going to give this to your wife" twilight said as she levitated it out of the box and in front of her face. "yeah, I know, I worked for so long, in order to get that for her, I wanted our third anniversary to be special" he said as he dried his tears with his cloak.

As twilight looked down at him, she couldn't help but smile. "Come on, I think I know what you could do to feel better" she said as she hoped off the bed and went to the door. "Where are we going?" he asked as he began to follow her. "were going to take a trip into town, it might be what you need" she said as she walked out the door.

He knew that it might be a bad idea, but he couldn't let her down, as he slowly walked out the door after her, he began to think that it was actually what he needed.

(Ponyville square)

As the two ponies walked through the streets of ponyville, twilight kept a brisk pace, and Steele trailed behind her with a slower more nervous pace. As they walked down a specific street, Steele began to recognize where he was, as they continued down the street, Steele saw a building that he recognized all to well, all he could do was stop and freeze with his attention now fully focused on the building in front of him.

As twilight realized that Steele was no longer following her, she turned around and saw that he was simply staring at this one building. When she walked up to him, she saw the look of sadness in his eyes and asked "what, what is this place" as she looked at the building. "This…this was my shop, I made all my items here, even these wings" he said as his focused changed from the building to twilight.

"Come on, let's get out of here" she said as she nudged Steele to follow her, it took a few seconds for him to realize, he then shook it off, and continued to follow her down the road.

After walking down another street for a few whole minutes, with an awkward silence between them. They turned down another smaller street, which had a bunch of houses. When they crossed in front of one house in particular, Steele instantly froze in place again and shakily turned to face the building, where his nightmares were first born, the scene before him, simply broke his heart as tears began to form in his eyes, as he looked at what became of his old home.

This time, twilight noticed him stop and walked up to him again and asked "what is this place, I can already tell by the look on your face that something terrible happened here" she said as she looked at him. "Yeah…this…this is where I lived, with my wife and foal, before the fire" he said as the tears slowly began to spill down his cheeks and hit the dirt beneath him. "Come on, don't do this to yourself, lets go." Twilight said as she began to push him along, but to no avail.

Steele just continued to stare, until he shook out of it, he then turned to twilight and looked her in the eyes. "Yeah… you were right about one thing, it does kind of help, come on there's one more place I want to visit before we head back." He said as he walked past her, twilight just looked at him, sighed, and proceeded to follow him.

As they walked along a large black fence, it was a place that twilight knew all to well, but she couldn't figure out why Steele would come here of all places, she knew it would cause him more pain. As they walked they reached an arch that read:

PONYVILLE CEMETARY

When Steele saw this a solemn look crossed his face, he knew he might be able to find some closure by doing this, even though he knew it would be hard. As they crossed the headstones of the deceased, Steele began to read the dates of death, and he recognized some of the ones who died in the fire, he felt as if he would never find the one he was looking for.

As he began to give up he turned his head and noticed a specific headstone with a name that he recognized all to well. As he walked up to it, he felt his heart begin to break, and when he fully reached it he heard twilight walk up behind him and ask "who is that?" she asked as she gestured to the stone in front of them.

Steele didn't answer her, instead he just stared sadly at it and read off the inscription in his head, and it read:

STAR SHOOTER

BELOVED WIFE AND MOTHER

As he finished reading it he let a tear fall down his cheek as he tried to suppress his overwhelming feelings. He soon turned back to twilight and asked "please, can you give me a minute alone?" ,as she looked in his eyes, she saw all the pain he was holding inside, but she didn't say anything, instead she just nodded and turned around and walked away, leaving Steele to his thoughts.

As Steele turned back to the stone, he said to himself, "I'm so sorry, I should have come back sooner, it took my new friend twilight for me to see that, I hope you can forgive me, I wish you could meet her, she's really nice and friendly, and she understands what happened, I can tell you two would get along great" as he finished he reached into his pocket, and pulled out the small black box, form earlier.

"I'm sorry, I meant to give this to you that night, but it seems that fate had other ideas for us, please forgive me for being late" he said as he placed the small box on top of the grave stone and said "happy anniversary, star" he said as he kissed the top of the gravestone "I miss you so much, I love you" he said as he began to turn away from it.

When he left through the gate he saw twilight, leaning against the wall, clearly waiting for him, when she saw him she walked up to him. "Do you want to stay for a little while longer?" she asked as she looked him in the eyes. "No, let's get out of here" he said as he turned and walked. "What will you do now?" she asked as she caught up with him and began to walk beside him.

"Well, I suppose I will need a place to stay for a few days" he said as they continued walking, twilight simply smiled "you could always stay with me, of course" she said as they both looked each other in the eyes. "Oh…no thank you, I appreciate the offer, but I wouldn't want to impose" he said as he smiled and laughed as he continued to walk.

Twilight simply wouldn't take no for an answer, she stepped forward and blocked his path, causing him to stop in place and look her directly in the eyes. "Who ever said I was giving you a choice, remember you saved my life, it's the least I could do, at least until your fully healed" she said with a smile on her face.

"Ok very well, since you insist" he said as he looked into her eyes. Finally content with his answer, "that's more like it" she said as she turned around and led him to the library.

(Ponyville library)

As the two entered the library, Steele instantly realized that it had definitely changed since the last time he had been there. "Wow…the place really has changed, since the last time I saw it" he said as he looked around at the huge book collection that lay on the shelves. "You mean you used to come here?" twilight asked slightly surprised.

"Yeah…I used to come here, every week with star, we both loved to read books, books of all kinds, of course it was a different pony who ran the library at the time" he said as he remembered all the happy memories of him and his wife. When twilight came back down the stairs, he looked up at her, "so…where do I sleep?" he said looking around hoping that she didn't mean the floor, twilight just laughed. "Well, we have a spare room in the basement, or you could sleep on the floor, your choice" she said as she reached the end of the stairs.

"Well, I think it would be smart to choose the basement" he said as she nodded and walked toward the basement, with him in close pursuit. When they reached the basement, twilight opened the door and was met by a large wave of thick dust that seemed to be trapped in the room. "Yeah…it's not exactly the cleanest, but it already has a bed and its own bathroom" she said with a small nervous laugh. "Oh… it'll be more than fine, he said as he lowered his pack onto the bed. "Dinner will be ready in a few hours" she said as she made her way to the door.

"Okay, thanks twilight…for everything" he said with an honest voice, she simply smiled and walked through the doorway. "Oh, and twilight, one more thing" he said which made her turn around again and face him, "you were right…about everything, about me" he said as they looked each other in the eyes.

Twilight simply nodded and turned to close the door, Steele then proceeded, to take off his coat and hung it on a nearby, he then lay down in the bed, which caused another puff of dust to release into the air, and a big fit of coughs from Steele, he rest his head on the pillow and feel into a deep sleep, and for once since his arrival in ponyville, he didn't have any nightmares.

(In the hallway)

Outside, twilight was lost in deep thought, and when she walked up into the main library, her assistant spike, saw the look on her face, and he instantly knew what was going on. "Well, well, looks like twilights getting soft for the new guy, isn't that cute" said spike as he taunted her, " I do not, its just that, he's been through a lot, and I'm going to do what I can to make him feel better" she said as she faced he young dragon, spike saw that she was serious.

When he went back to sweeping, twilight began to feel tired herself and decided to take a short nap, then prepare for dinner. "I'm feeling tired spike, I'm going to lie down for awhile, watch the library, and if anything happens, come and get me" she said as she began to ascend the stairs to her bedroom. The dragon simply nodded, and resumed his work.

When twilight had reached the room, she thought hard about what spike said, could she really be falling for Steele, her thoughts were interrupted by a heavy yawn, and she decided to ignore those thoughts and walked into her room and closed the door.

A/N: yep there you have it, took me awhile to finish this one, you know, high school is a pain, but hey, the next chapter will be up soon, see ya then.


	8. Chapter 7

A/N: like I said the next chapter will is up sooner then the last, so everybody enjoy.

Wings of steel: chapter 7: an old friend

The following day, twilight and Steele spent the time getting to know each other, twilight went on about how much of a book worm she was before she moved to ponyville and met her friends, Steele told her tales about his life growing up in cloudsdale, and how he first met his wife, and from there on, and twilight found it more than interesting.

As the morning progressed on, Steele suddenly had the urge to go for a morning walk through the town, much to twilight's disapproval. Even with that, Steele reassured her that he would be fine.

"Don't worry about me twilight, ill be fine, I always used to take a morning walk, back when I still lived here" he said as he put on his cloak and headed for the door. "well, okay but don't be out to long" she said as she walked up to him, as he closed the door he said, "yes mom" he said as he fully closed the door behind him. This comment only made twilight laugh as she went into the kitchen to help spike with the dishes from breakfast.

(Ponyville square)

As Steele walked through the streets at a brisk pace, he did hid best to avoid the three places he feared the most, but none the less it didn't affect his mood, the cool morning breeze, blew through his short dark blue and black mane, which he loved the most about morning walks.

As he crossed through town square, he saw twilight's friend applejack setting up what appeared to be a selling stand, so he decided to go say hi, and see if she needed any help. As he approached her, he noticed that she seemed to be having some trouble, with setting it up, he did his best not to startle her, and unfortunately it didn't work very well.

When he called out her name, he heard her hit her head on the underside of the cart, when she came out from under, she saw him and said "oh… its just you Steele, I thought you were somepony else, what are you doing up this early?" she asked as she rubbed her head in order to stop the pain.

"oh me, I'm just out stretching my legs, I used to always take a morning stroll through town, it helps clear my head" he said as he looked her in the eyes, "well, okay, what can I do ya for" she said as she finished fixing the cart and put huge barrels of apples on it. "Twilight tells me that you sell the best apples in equestria, im willing to try them myself" he said as he got out his small bag of bits.

"How much for say, two apples" he said as he fished out two bits to pay for them. "for you, its on the house" she said as she winked at him and got a bag so he could put them in. "ya know, twilight really seems interested in you, after the princess left, and you went back upstairs, she wouldn't stop talking about you, in a way it was kind of sweet, but also annoying" she said with a smile on her face and laughed. Steele joined in the laughter and said, "yeah, well, I appreciate her concern and I'm more than grateful, that's she's helping me and giving me a place to stay for awhile" he said as he put the apples in a bag and then proceeded to leave "sorry, got to go, see you later" he said as he walked away from the cowpony so that other ponies could come and buy their apples. As he continued down the street, he became lost in thought about what applejack had said about twilight, and he realized it was true.

Twilight was definitely friendlier to him than any other pony would be, and he wondered, if it was because twilight began to fall for him. This wasn't really much of a surprise, since before Steele meet star and moved to ponyville, he was always the one to get the mares. But something was different about twilight, something he couldn't explain just yet.

Of course, he liked her back, she was friendly and nice, and she understood him, yet still, he just felt happy when he was around her. But he couldn't disappoint her, so he didn't ask. By this point it had been longer than Steele thought; the sun was higher in the sky, and it was by now noon, and he had a feeling twilight would be out looking for him, so he decided to head back to the library, to stop her worrying.

Unfortunately, his thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly crashed in to an oncoming pony, which caused both of their belongings to fly into the air and land on the ground. When Steele shook himself out of the temporary shock, he walked up to the pony and extended his hoof to help him up.

"I am sorry, I was lost in thought, I should have watched where I was going" said the other pony as he took Steele's hoof and was lifted off the ground. "hey, no problem, I guess I was lost in thought too" Steele said as he picked up his apples and looked at the other pony, immediately he noticed two things: one was that, this other pony was a Pegasus like him, and two was that for some reason this other pony was staring him right in the eyes.

Steele looked back in his eyes and an awkward silence fell between them. Steele began to move but was blocked by this other pony, who seemed to have a look of pure shock and surprise on his face. "S-s-Steele, is that you?" said the strange as he looked Steele in the eyes. "Uh…do I know you?" Steele said awkwardly as he tried to move past him again, but to no avail. "Wait, Steele, its me, haze, your oldest friend, from flight school" said the new pony as he looked in Steele's eyes. At first Steele, thought it was a joke, but, something about this pony, told him that he was telling the truth, he hadn't seen haze, in at least three years.

"Haze, is it really you" he said as his excitement began to grow, "yeah its me, I cant believe its you, its been what, three years now" he said as he extended his hoof out to Steele. "Far to long if you ask me" he said as he gladly shook his hoof, the two then walked beside each other and continued down the road.

"Where have you been all these years, haze, we had our fights in the past but after that I never heard from you again" Steele said as they walked down the streets of the town. "Yeah, well im sorry, but I been really busy, I did just what I dreamed of doing for years now, I have the most successful business in all of equestria" he said proudly as he looked back at his old friend, "well im happy for you haze, you followed your dream, life has been good to you, I wish I could say the same for me though" Steele said as his smile disappeared and was replaced by a frown.

"I meant to ask, how is star, by the way, and ginger?" he asked but got no answer from his friend. "What did something happen between you two?" haze asked as he stopped in front of his friend and looked him in the eyes. "I guess you never heard about it, two years ago, star and ginger were killed in a fire, and my wings got broken, but luckily for me I am skilled in metal working, so I made these" he said as he extended his metal wings to show his friend.

"Oh my…!, im so sorry to hear that, I liked star, I really did, im sorry for your loss, but what amazes me is your wings and how you managed to make them, let alone make them work" he said completely shocked by his friends story.

"Yeah, but with the help of my new friend, twilight, I managed to face it, hey maybe you will be able to meet her" he said as his smile reappeared on his face. As they continued walking, they reached town square, the next thing they heard was a familiar voice call out to them, "hey Steele, where have you been, I decided to go do some shopping and look for you" twilight said as she walked up to the two pegasi, "well, I've been out walking around town, oh, twilight this is my old friend haze, I've known him since we were both In flight school" he said as he placed a hoof around his shoulder.

"nice to meet you, my name is twilight sparkle, I run the local library" she said as she turned to the new pony and extended her hoof in a friendly manner, which he gladly accepted, "twilight sparkle, what a beautiful name, any friend of Steele's is a friend of mine" he said to her as he took her hoof and lightly kissed it, causing her to blush deeply.

All of a sudden haze reached inside of his coat and pulled out a small watch, "im sorry, but I must be going, I have an important business errand to run, we must keep in touch, Steele, how about you and your friends join me for dinner up in my manor in clousdale" he said as he pointed his hoof into the sky, in the direction of the floating city.

" well, I wish we could, but I'm not sure" Steele said as he walked to twilight side, "please Steele, I insist, its been a long time since we've seen each other, as an old friend, please" he said with a slight hint of begging in his voice. "well, I guess we could come and have dinner" Steele said as looked haze in the eyes, "excellent, ill have a balloon come to pick you up at the edge of town, in the afternoon, now if you'll excuse me, oh…all of your friends are invited miss sparkle, you too Steele" and with that they turned and went there separate ways, with that twilight went to tell her friends about their invite, and so they went off to get ready for the dinner party.

(Outskirts of ponyville)

As twilight and her friends, waited on the field outside of town for their ride, Steele began to tell those stories about how he met haze all those years ago, and all the adventures they went through as young colts. Suddenly, out of nowhere a large balloon, big enough to fit all of them and the guards, when they entered the balloon, Steele noticed the guards were armed with crossbows, and had knife holsters under their cloaks.

"I can't believe your friend owns one of the clousdale estates, they are supposed to just as fancy as the canterlot ones" dash said excitedly as they breached the heavy layer of clouds and into the docks of cloudsdale, when they were officially tied down they exited the balloon and looked up to see a massive house upon a hill.

As they were escorted by guards to the house, Steele noticed that it began to rain, and that it would get much worse. "Wait a minute, it's not supposed to rain until tomorrow" rainbow dash said with disappointment in her voice. When they entered the huge, they were greeted by the most magnificent sight; the building had tall marble columns supporting it, the rest of the room was decorated with art from all over equestria, suddenly the room was filled with a bright flash that shocked them all, especially fluttershy, who was cowering behind rainbow dash.

Steele then realized that it was a flash of lightning, and that they may be here for awhile. "well, it looks like you managed to get here before the storm started up, good thing too, it is getting worse" haze said as he appeared at the top of the staircase, "welcome to my humble home" he said as he descended the staircase and up to his guests.

"come, dinner is ready, I have the best chefs in all of clousdale, they make the best food you will ever taste" he said as he lead them through a large brown door and into a room that was similar to the last, but with a beautiful solid oak table in it. "Wow…haze I am impressed, this is really fancy, how did you afford all of this stuff" Steele said as they began to take their seats. "Like I said Steele, I became very wealthy, I am the biggest business owner in all of equestria after all" he answered with a laugh as he took his seat at the far end of the table.

Soon after, some pegasi caring multiple trays, set one down in each of the ponies, and opened them only to reveal a large bowl of soup, when the smell reached there noses it, truly was the best thing they have ever smelled in their lives. "Enjoy everypony" haze said as he took the spoon and dipped it in the soup, as twilight lifted the spoon from the bowl and into her mouth, her eyes instantly widened, and she said, "oh my…! This is the best soup I have ever tasted" she said as she dunked it into the bowl again.

For the remainder of the meal they all engaged in small talk, haze began asking twilight and her friends about themselves, and was very surprised to hear their answers. Unfortunately they had lost track of time as the grand father clock struck, nine times, telling them it was nine a clock at night. "wow… time really does fly, when you hear great stories" he said as he looked out the window, before he spoke again, a dark coated Pegasus came into the room, and whispered something into haze's ear that made his smile disappear, "unfortunately, my friends the storm has gotten far worse than we thought, my guards had to shut down the docks so the balloons wouldn't fly away" he said as he rose from his chair. "Of course, you are all more than welcome, to stay here for the night, my guards will escort home in the morning" he said as he looked at them all.

"Oh…im sorry but we have to be home tonight" twilight said as she looked at all her friends. "Im afraid there is no other way, shade here, will escort you to your rooms" he said as he motioned to the dark Pegasus behind him, he then proceeded to leave the room.

(In the hallways)

As shade escorted them to their rooms, they found them amazingly, just to their liking. As twilight and Steele were the last to receive their rooms, twilight found that her room was populated with a large amount of books, just to her liking, and Steele found his decorated with everything from books to instruments, but he didn't complain.

Later that night, after taking a long warm shower, twilight brushed her mane with a elegant diamond studded brush, as he brushed her mane so that it would dry, she suddenly heard a strange music coming from the hallway, as she finished combing, she followed the sound out into the hall, and along the rooms until she stopped outside what was steele's room.

When she knocked, but got no answer, she slowly opened the door, what she saw inside shocked her, she saw Steele sitting on the side of the bed with his back to her playing what appeared to be a small hoof held instrument, the music that was coming from it, as the best music twilight had heard in her life. She accidently stepped on a creaky floorboard, suddenly the music stopped abruptly, and she heard him call out, "hello, who's there?" he said. Twilight knew she was busted, so she came out from behind the door, "it's okay Steele it's just me" she said as she stepped fully into the room.

"Oh it is you, you actually scared me, uh…come on in" he said as he patted the side of the bed for her to join him. Twilight blushed and entered slowly, and sat on the bed next to him and said, "I didn't know you could play like that, it was beautiful" it was Steele's turn to blush at her comment, "yeah well, I liked a lot of things, especially music, I learned to play when I was young, and I guess I had a special talent for it" he said as he put it away.

"are you okay, you seem a little on edge, ever since you met up with haze again" she said as she put a hoof on his shoulder, he sighed and said "its not that, believe me, can I tell you a secret?" he said as he looked her in the eyes. Twilight simply nodded, as he continued. "when I said i heard you scream, down in the forest, I said it was because I didn't want a innocent pony to get hurt, that was only half true, the other reason I helped you, was when you screamed it sounded just like my wife's scream as she was crushed, and I must have did it by reaction" he said as he looked deep into her beautiful eyes.

Twilight had a rising feeling as to were this was going, but she couldn't say much, "oh…Steele" she said as she returned his gaze. "It's just that you remind me so much of her, you laugh like her, you just as kind as she was, everything about you is the same" he said as he noticed that twilight began to slowly lean forward, as much as he was. He then noticed that their lips were a mere inches apart, as they both closed their eyes, they both felt that this was right, but something in the back of steeles mind told him to stop.

As Steele realized what he was doing, he opened his eyes and pulled away, not looking her in the eyes, when twilight realized that he had pulled away, she too opened her eyes and looked at him, "I-I cant" he said as he turned back to face her, "I'm sorry" twilight said with her head down.

Steele used his hoof to bring her face, up so he could look her in the eyes, "you don't have to be, its my fault" he said as he smiled at her, seeing him smile, caused a small one to appear on her own face.

Unfortunately, they were interrupted by a knock on the door, when they both turned around Steele said "yes, come in" as the door opened they saw the same Pegasus that brought them to their rooms. "Sorry, am I interrupting something" he said as he looked around nervously. "No we were just…talking" he said as he smiled at twilight, "is there something I can help you with?" he asked him.

"Yes, master haze has requested that you join him in his study, if you will" he asked in a polite voice. "Yes of course give us a minute" he said as the Pegasus nodded and left the room. After that he turned to twilight, he said, "go back to your room, get some sleep, I'll see you in the morning" he said as he got up from the bed and walked to the door, with twilight following him in pursuit, as he closed the door behind them, they both parted ways, twilight left to her room for the night, Steele then proceeded to follow shade down into haze's private study.

A/N: there you have it for now, don't worry, in the next chapter, things get really interesting, and that I can promise


	9. Chapter 8

A/N: as promised things get real interesting in this chapter, so enjoy

Wings of steel: chapter 8: the betrayal

As Steele followed shade down through, the hallways of Haze's enormous home, he couldn't help but wonder what it was that he wanted to talk about so late in the night. Ever since they arrived, Steele noticed that haze was a little on edge, during dinner there was one point where haze acted completely different, then he usually did.

As they came back to the main foyer where they were first greeted, they began to descend the stairs, Steele noticed that shade was also a little on edge, so he decided to break the tension, by asking "so…how long have you been working for haze?" there was a few seconds of silence before he answered, "oh, I've been working for him for awhile now" he said nervously as they entered a large door under the staircase that lead to the rest of the house.

After a few minutes of walking and turning down different hallways, they finally reached a door that Steele assumed was their destination. As Shade opened the door, the first thing he noticed was that there was a fire burning in the fireplace, as he turned his head to continue following shade, he saw his old friend hunched over a table, at what seemed to be a map of some sorts, he also noticed a glass of what appeared to be a alcoholic beverage on the side.

"Sir, I have Steele here with me, as you requested" shade said as he faced Haze. "very good, thank you shade, you may go now" he said with his back still turned to them, after he said that Shade gave a small bow and proceeded to the door, and leave the two friends alone to talk, after Shade left, Haze turned to face his friend with a warm smile on his face. "Quite, the collection of books you have here haze" Steele said as he looked around the large study. "You know me, Steele, I have collected books from all over equestrian, and I still need to complete the collection" he said as he laughed at his friend's amazement.

"Come sit, we need to talk" Haze said as he gestured to the set of chairs in front of the fireplace. Steele took his seat and watched his friend sit down in the chair across from him, "are you okay? Haze you've seemed a little on edge ever since we arrived" he asked him with concern evident in his voice, but he didn't get his answer, instead haze asked him a question. "You said that you and your friend twilight were attacked in the forest by a pony named Blade, am I correct?" Haze said with a serious face.

This question baffled Steele slightly, but none the less he still answered him, "uh…yeah, but I hardly think that talking about it is necessary" Steele said with a slight hint of suspicion in his voice. "Did they happen to mention who they were working for, or who sent them?" he asked still ignoring his friend's question.

"No…why, what does this have to do with anything?" he asked as his voice was now almost full of suspicion, at this point haze had risen from his chair and had gone to the window, and looked out at the storm which had calmed down significantly. "It means everything Steele, more than you know" he said as he turned from the window to face his friend, who was now sitting up right in his chair. "What do you mean by that?" Steele asked as he got out of his chair. "Haze, are you okay? You know you can tell me anything, were friends" he said as he placed a hoof on his friends shoulder, Haze just brushed off his hoof and walked up to the fireplace and stared into the fire as if it were mesmerizing him.

"when I said that I felt sorry for your loss, I really meant it, you see…ordering that fire was not something I did with a light heart, but it had to be done none the less", he said as he still didn't turn to face his now completely confused friend. When Steele heard what he said it completely surprised him, but he just laughed it off, "what do you mean, you ordered the fire, the fire that killed Star and Ginger was a complete accident, the royal guards said so" he said as he took a few steps closer to his friend, "oh Steele…you should really learn, to not listen to what the guards say, its not always true" Haze said as he faced his friend.

Steele's smile disappeared, when he realized his friend was serious, "what are you…" un fortunately, his sentence was interrupted when he heard the door of the study open up and a multiple sets of hooves walk into the room, as he turned to face the newcomers, he saw a pony that he knew all too well, "you…"he said in a low sinister voice, as he recognized the ones that attacked twilight a few days ago, "well, well, its you again, nice to see you, how's your little mare friend" Blade said as more of them poured into the room. "Step back, Haze, I taken them before and I'll do it again" he said as he took a defensive position in front of his friend, who surprisingly seemed to be calm.

When Blade and his group didn't attack, it completely surprised him, the next thing he heard was a laugh coming from behind him, as Blade moved around Steele's side and over behind him, when he turned around he realized it was Haze laughing, "I take it that our little problem has been dealt with" he said as he turned to face Blade.

"yes it has, he has been silenced, as ordered, and we also sent a little gift to his family, I don't think he will be a problem anymore" he said as he smiled at Haze, "Haze, what is going on here, you're working with him?" he said as he lowered his weapon. When Haze and Blade turned to him they just simply laughed, "Not only am I working with him, I'm their leader, they are my private army, and they carry out my orders by taking out my competitors, how do you think I became the biggest company in Equestria, by hard work?" he said as he laughed.

"But…I don't understand, why?" Steele asked as he faced his friend. "Okay…let me start from the beginning, when I said that I ordered the fire, I was speaking the truth, I gave the order to blade and his group, and they carried it out, by sneaking into a nearby house, and starting a small fire" he said as he turned and looked back at his friend, who had a look of pure shock on his face. "you mean…you ordered that fire to be started, the fire that killed my family" he said as his voice began to fill with sadness, "like I said, it wasn't something I did with a light heart, I liked star I really did, but she had to go" he said as his smile disappeared, "but…why? I thought we were friends, how could you do this?" he asked as his voice slowly began to rise with sadness and anger, as tears began to fill his eyes. "We are friends, I did you a favor, she got in the way" he said with a calm voice.

This comment only made Steele angrier, "what! Got in the way, how could you, I loved her!" he said as tears began to spill down his cheeks. "I know, like I said, I am sorry for your loss" he said as he faced his now enraged friend. "I did it for your own good, call it a friendly favor, oh and one more thing, I also ordered the assassination of your friend Twilight" he said as his smile reappeared, "you see, a long time ago, I offered you a chance to join me in business, but you refused due to your family obligations", when he said this a painful memory came back into his mind it was a day that Steele remembered all too well.

(Flashback) 4 years ago

It was a warm summer day and Steele was wandering around his house, looking for something Star wanted, he had recently found out, that his wife was pregnant, and was due to give birth in a few months, so he did what he could to help her. "Steele, where are you?" he heard his wife call out to him from their bedroom, "be right there Star, almost done" he said as he finished making her a drink that she had requested.

As he steeped into their room, he saw her lying on the bed, with a book in her hooves and some reading glasses on, as he approached the bed he placed the tray with the drink on the bed side table, "how are you?" he asked as he looked at her beautiful eyes, "I'm fine, thank you" she said as she reached and grabbed the glass of tea she was greatly craving. As she took a long sip, suddenly they heard the door bell ring, "I wonder who that could be?" Star asked as she put the glass down and slowly made her way to get up, but was stopped by her husband.

"no, the doctor said you need to stay in bed, I will see who it is, probably just another sales pony" he said as he made his way to the door, the comment only made her laugh as he left to answer the door. When he reached and opened the door, he saw a pony that was all too familiar to him. "Steele, long time no see how have you been" said the pony as he greeted him, "Haze, it has been a long time, come on in" he said as he moved out of the way for his old friend to come in. when the door closed he heard his wife call from the bedroom, "who is it, honey?" she asked, "its just Haze" he said as he went to close the door so she could get her rest. "How are you and Star now, is she okay" he said as he turned to face Steele who had returned from the hallway. "I guess I never told you, sorry we lost contact, but Star and I are going to have a foal" he said proudly.

"Wow! I am so happy for you, congratulations; I know you will make a great father" he said as he congratulated his long time friend. "But I am here on business, is there someplace private we could talk?" he said as he looked around. "Of course, we can talk in the living room" he said as he led his friend through his home. When they reached the living room Steele took a seat across from his friend, as Haze took a seat, he set a briefcase on the table in front of them. "I know it has been a long time since we saw each other, but I have good news myself, I finally found the opportunity to open my own business" he said as he finally took a seat across from Steele. "Wow, congratulations Haze, I know you will be very successful in the future" he said as he smiled at his friend.

"but that's not why I am here, we need to be serious now" he said as his smile disappeared, "unfortunately I cant open this business unless I have a partner" he said as he got up from the couch and walked to the window and let the sun beat down on him.

"Meaning?" Steele said as his smile disappeared the same way his friends did. His only reply was a heavy sigh from his friend, "Steele, how long have we known each other?" he said as he still stared out into the street below, "we've known each other since the first day we met, back in flight school, why?" he said as he raised himself off the couch. "We have been best friends since that day, the real reason I am here is because…I wanted to ask you to be my partner" he said as he turned to look at his friend.

Steele only turned and looked at the wall full of pictures of him and Star, from their first date, to their wedding day. He breathed a heavy sigh and turned back to his friend, "yes…we have been friends for a long time, but…I sorry I can't be your partner, I just found out that my wife is pregnant, I have my own job here in ponyville, I have my family obligations now, I am sorry Haze but I cant" he said as he faced his friend, but the look on his face almost broke his heart, haze just breathed a heavy sigh, he then went to the table and packed up his suitcase, "Haze…I said I am sorry, we were friends, but times have changed were older now, we have better lives" he said as his friend faced him again, "no…don't worry Steele, you have a family now, I completely understand, now if you will excuse me I have other errands to run" he said as he headed for the door, and left the depressed Steele to his thoughts, Steele could only watch as his oldest friend walked out the door obviously disappointed.

(End flashback)

"Yeah…I said I had family obligations, I said no, I meant it, and you go and kill her" he said as his voice was now full of anger. "Yes, I know, but now I am offering you another chance, as a friend I suggest you take it, and now you don't have any family obligations to stop you" he said as he motioned to Blade and his group, who pulled out crossbows from under their cloaks, and aiming them at him. "You sick bastard!, killing my family is one thing, but why Twilight and her friends, they didn't do anything to you" he said as his voice calmed down slightly. "Oh them…I'm doing it to get rid of a future problem" he said as his expression didn't change. "If you don't join me, I will kill them right now" he said as he raised his hoof in front of him, revealing a watch of some sort. "Even as we speak, I have a group of my finest assassins waiting outside of their rooms, waiting for my orders, I you refuse, it will be their blood on your hoofs, the choice is yours, Steele" he said as he stared Steele in the eyes.

Steele knew that he was serious, all he could do was look his once friend in the eyes, then he made his choice, he just lowered his head, Haze had a feeling he had won, but there was one thing he forgot about Steele, and that was that he always had a solution to everything. The next thing he heard was a small laugh from Steele, as he raised his head, he looked haze in the eyes and said, "you know Haze…you are right about one thing, things definitely have changed between us" he said as he reached into the pocket of his cloak and pulled a small hoof full of beads, this seemed very familiar to Blade as he realized what he was doing. Steele then, threw the beads at the ground causing a blinding explosion, and a small smoke cloud that filled the study from top to bottom.

When the smoke cleared, Haze saw that Steele was nowhere to be found, he then turned to Blade, who looked just as angry as him, "find him, I want him alive!" he said as he shouted to the rest, they then proceeded to file out of the room in search of Steele, Haze then spoke into the watch, "mission is a go, take them out now" he said as turned and followed the rest out of the door.

(In the hallways)

"Copy that, sir, moving in for the kill" said one of the assassins as they waited outside of Twilight's room, when they received the order , they slowly opened the door, careful not to awaken her, as they surrounded the bed with the curtains drawn, they could see the slowly moving, yet sleeping form of their target, as they raised their crossbows at the curtains, as they slowly closed their hoofs around the triggers, suddenly the door flew open and a silver Pegasus came in and bucked the nearest one it the chest, sending him flying into the wall.

"Twilight, wake up!" Steele shouted as he kicked another one in the side as he took his crossbow and shot him. As that pony screamed in pain, Steele heard Twilight draw the curtains with a shocked expression, "Steele what's going on?" she asked scared, unfortunately she didn't get a response, as a nearby pony lunged at her with a knife in his mouth, as she screamed in fear she felt her horn glow and a powerful blast came out and collided with it sending him into the wall and knocking him unconscious.

As Steele finished off the remaining ones, he ran to Twilight's side and pulled her out of the bed, and began to pull her down the hall, as they left one of the still conscious ponies reached up to his ear and spoke, "mission is compromised, kill them now" he said before he passed out. "Steele, what's happening, slow down" Twilight said as they ran down the hall, "I cant, we need to get your friend's and get out of here, we're not safe" he said back as they ran to the nearest room, "but why, what happened?" twilight asked as she stopped and looked him in the eyes, Steele turned to face her and said, "please, I cant explain, now, just trust me" he said as he returned her gaze, Twilight simply nodded, and continued to follow him.

(…later…)

As Steele went from room to room, narrowly rescuing Twilight's fiends from being killed, they had just finished rescuing Fluttershy, who had been an easy target, since she didn't know who to fight back very well, "okay, we need to get out of here now, we can take the balloon, we can use it to get back to ponyville" he said as they ran down the hall and back to the main entrance. "But why, I need my beauty sleep" Rarity complained from the back of the group.

By that time, they had reached the front entrance and opened the door, only to find the storm still raging, but they couldn't let that stop them, as they ran through the door, Steele heard one of them yell from the top of the staircase, "stop them, don't let them escape!" when he said that more of the assassins came out from the doors. As they ran through the path, they had to dodge oncoming arrows that were being shot at them from floating balloons, as they continued running, suddenly they heard a familiar scream come from behind, when Steele turned around he saw Rainbow Dash lying on the ground unable to move. When he ran up to her he saw and arrow lodged into her back hoof, he then used his strength to lift her on his back and down to the docks.

When they reached the balloon, they closed the door behind them, "Rarity tie us off" he said as he turned to Rainbow Dash who was screaming in agony, "okay I know what to do, here use this, its going to hurt a lot" he said as he handed her a small piece of wood to put in between her mouth, when she had it in her mouth he then proceeded to place his hoof on one end of the arrow, then using it he broke one end off, the easy part was over, now the painful part would come, he then began to slide the other piece through rainbows leg, causing muffled screams coming from the cyan Pegasus as tears came down her eyes.

After he did that, he got a bandage and wound it around her hoof, "Rarity, what's taking so long" he said as he ducked and an on coming arrow, "patience is a virtue" she said as she was carefully untying the knot with her magic, when she said that Steele looked up at the house and saw, literally a whole legion of pegasi and unicorns running after them, "not right now it isn't" he said as he pushed her out of the way, and used his knife to cut the ropes and free them.

"Fluttershy, take the rope and get us out of here" he yelled while dodging more oncoming arrows, "but why me?" she asked as he pushed her out of the way of an arrow, "because, Rainbow Dash is injured and you're the only other Pegasus who's not trying to kill us" he said as he handed her the rope, this time she understood, she took the rope in her mouth, and flew in front of the balloon, using her strength she pulled the balloon out of the docks and they made their way out of firing range.

After that steele took a heavy sigh of relief, "now, tell us what happened" Twilight said as they all gathered around him, Steele looked down sadly, it was him, he ordered the fire that killed my family to be started" he said as tears began to fill his eyes again.

When they heard this, they all gasped, "but…I thought Haze was your friend, why would he do that?" Twilight asked as they looked at him, "I thought he was my friend too, not only that he was the one who sent Blade to kill you, all of you" he said as he looked them all in the eyes.

"He was the one who is trying to kill us" Steele said as he went to the side and looked at the endless expanse of clouds, by now the storm had calmed down significantly, into a small rain cloud.

Then Steele notice something off in the distance, as he looked around for binoculars, he saw something that shocked him, "uh oh" he said as he turned to the rest, "what…what it?" Twilight said as she took the binoculars and looked through them herself, "we've got company, Fluttershy, you've got to fly faster!" he yelled as he began to look for a weapon, Fluttershy didn't bother asking, instead she did just that and flew as fast as her wings could take her, "Twilight I need you to put a shield around the balloon, they are armed with crossbows" Twilight nodded and used her magic to perform a shield spell only this time it was bigger.

As Steele looked around for a weapon he saw a the crossbow he took after he defended Twilight, he then saw that their pursuers had caught up to them and proceeded to lay it on the edge of the basket and aimed it at the balloon to the left. "Twilight, I need you to lower the shield on the left" he said as he aimed it at their balloon, she didn't say anything and simply nodded, as she lowered it, Steele wasted no time in shooting, luckily he was skilled in marksmanship since he also built weapons, for after he shot he got a direct hit and the other balloon began to spiral out of control and down into the forest below.

"Okay…now on the right" he said as he placed it on the other side, instead of questioning him, she did as he asked, when he did that, he almost got hit himself, but luckily he dodged, he then fired two shots, and got another direct hit, sending this balloon and its occupants to the same fate as the last.

Okay, I want you to lower it in the back, and then I want you to duck" he said as he knelt down and aimed it past her and at their final pursuer. "okay…now!" he yelled and Twilight lowered the shield and jumped to the right as a barrage of arrows shot passed Steele face and hit the basket, he then quickly fired multiple shots at the last balloon, and got a lucky third hit, sending this one to the same fate as the last two. But unfortunately, the shooter in their balloon was also a great marksmanship, and as they spiraled out of control, he managed to squeeze off one last shot, and hit their balloon directly, sending them out of control as well.

Suddenly, Steele and his friends were jerked to the side, as they realized that their balloon was also hit, "hang on, everypony, were going down!" he said as they headed straight for the forest at high speed, the last thing Steele remembered was the sound of the balloon crashing into the trees of the forest.

A/N: wow! That is probably the longest chapter I have ever written so far, but I told you things would get interesting, the next chapter will be up in the next day or two, see ya.


	10. chapter 9

A/N: the next chapter is up as promised.

Wings of steel: chapter 9: return to ponyville

The last thing Steele remembered seeing was the balloon crashing into one of the trees of the everfree forest, and slamming into a thick branch, then crashing to the forest ground.

When Steele finally woke, he felt a massive fit of pain coming from his head, the second thing he noticed was that his vision was blurry; he assumed it was from hitting his head. When he looked up into the tree's he noticed the balloon itself was torn to shreds from the sharp edges of the branches', pieces of the balloon and basket were scattered through the tree's and on the ground.

When his vision had fully returned and the pain in his head had subsided enough for him to concentrate, he finally realized that Twilight and her friends were nowhere in sight, "Twilight! Where are you?" he shouted trying to locate his friends, luckily his reply came from behind him, "I'm right here" he heard Twilight say from behind him, he quickly spun around and saw her walking slowly towards him.

"Where are the others?" Steele asked as he ran up to her and helped her move faster, "I don't know, there not here with you?" she asked as she looked up in his eyes. That was then they both started to panic and frantically call out their friend's name, hoping to locate them. Fortunately for them they got their responses, as their friends began to emerge from the darkness of the forest, as they all gathered in the center of the clearing, steele especially walked up to rainbow dash, "how's your leg?" he asked as he examined the bandage, which was remarkably still in place.

"Well, besides of being in agonizing pain, I feel great" Rainbow said in a completely sarcastic tone, part of Steele wanted to laugh, but the other part told him she was serious. Then he noticed that they were still missing one pony, "wait, where's fluttershy?" he asked as he looked around, this comment made them all on edge again as they called her name, hoping to locate her. Fortunately they got their answer; "uh…I'm up here" said a small voice from above them, when they looked up they saw her, dangling from a branch her hoof caught in the rope she used to pull the balloon.

"Whoa…hang on Fluttershy, I'll get you down" Steele said as he backed up, and unsheathed his knife, "are you sure this is the best way?" Twilight asked nervously, "of course, I've done this before, and nopony got hurt" he said as he aimed the knife at the rope, he then used his percision to throw the knife directly at the rope, luckily for him, two years traveling the kingdom, forcing him to defend against what ever nature through at him, made him incredibly skilled with his knife.

The knife struck the rope, and ripped clean through it, letting Fluttershy fall head first into the ground, luckily she used her wings to stop a few inches from the ground, when she realized it, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief and flipped herself around and landed smoothly on the ground, the knife itself was firmly planted into the branches of a nearby tree, which caused Steele, to fly up and yank the blade out of the thick trunk.

"Was that really necessary?" Twilight asked as she examined her friend for injuries, "no…but it sure was fun" Steele said with a small chuckle as he landed in front of them, this comment only made Twilight and her friends scowl at him. Then Twilight looked around and asked, "Where are we?" she asked as she looked at the thick trees around them. "Well…I know we aren't far from ponyville, whence we get there, we need to get the next train to canterlot" he said as he surveyed the area around him, this caught them all by surprise, "what…but why, what will going to canterlot do?" Rarity asked as they followed him in the direction of their home.

"because, while I was talking to haze, he told me he had his own private army, and there is no telling what he could do with it" Steele said as he continued walking, "so…how are we supposed to believe that?" Rainbow asked as she was carried on Applejacks back due to her inability to walk. She didn't get her answer, instead Steele suddenly pushed them all to the side, and put his hoof to his mouth signaling them to be quiet, and he then pointed his hoof at the sky.

When they all looked up, they saw a familiar balloon fly above their heads, "looks like, they are still trying to find us" Twilight said nervously, "we have to be quiet, whence we get to ponyville, we're home free" Steele said as he continued to lead them down the dirt path, that lead to ponyville. "what makes you think, that he will stop there" Twilight said skeptically, "I've known Haze for years, if he's still the same in anyway, he doesn't like to get caught, and to answer your question rainbow dash, there's one thing I learned after knowing him this long, and that is you could tell when he is joking, and the look in his eyes told me he wasn't messing around" Steele said as he turned and faced his friends.

That made Rainbow be quiet as they walked, Steele told them more about haze had said he would do. "We need to warn the Princess, there's no telling what Haze will do" he said as they finally cleared the forest and saw ponyville only a few yards away.

"We need tickets to canterlot, we also need pack up a few days of supplies, meet us at the train station in two hours" he said as they all parted ways, Steele going with Twilight to the library.

When they reached the library they both found Spike sweeping the floor, when he heard the door open he turned and saw Steele and Twilight entering the library, "Twilight, steele, what are you doing here, weren't you supposed to be back a lot earlier?" the young dragon asked, "that was the plan, but a storm came up in cloudsdale disabling our only way back, so we had no choice but to stay at my friend's house" Steele said as he said the word friend with a lot of anger. "Okay…then how did it go, did you have a good time?" Spike asked as he looked at Twilight, "well…if you describe almost being killed while you're sleeping a good time, then yes we had a blast" Twilight said with sarcasm obvious in her voice.

This only made the dragons mouth nearly drop to the floor, "what, why would he do that, from what you told me, he seemed really nice" Spike said now completely confused, he didn't get his answer, because Twilight had gone up to her room to pack up supplies for their trip, he then looked up to Steele, who had also vanished down to his room in the basement. As Steele packed up some supplies, he couldn't help but remember the first day he met Haze.

(Flashback, flight school) 7 years ago

As Steele looked at all the young Pegasus flying around with their small wings, he couldn't help but wish he could join, Steele had been a late bloomer when flying, he could hover for a mere few seconds, but he never achieved true flight, his parents had been worried for him, they began to believe that he would never fly again, Steele was forced out of his thoughts by a voice that he knew to well, "well, well, look at poor defenseless Steele, sitting alone like he always does, say why don't you join us for a flight, oh wait…I forgot you can't fly" said the bigger Pegasus, "come on guys, I'm not in the mood" said the young Steele as he got up and faced the bullies, who loved to tease him about his inability to fly.

"Well, that's to bad, if your not in the mood, why don't you make us stop" he said as he steeped forward, challenging Steele. "Hey! Three against one, isn't fair, pick on somepony your own size" said a voice from above as he landed in front of the helpless Steele, "well, look here, little Haze is defending pathetic little Steele, why don't you get out of here, this isn't your business" said the bully as he continued to advance, "if you're picking on somepony who is defenseless it is my business" said the young Haze as he stood up to the bullies and stared them directly in the eyes.

"ah…it no fun anymore, come on guys, let's leave the two losers to themselves" they said as they broke out in laughter and fly off, Haze then turned and faced Steele, "thank you, you saved me from those bullies, I owe you one" Steele said as he smiled at him.

"hey, no problem, I hate it when ponies gang up on another, it's just unfair" said Haze as he extended his hoof in a friendly fashion, "my name's Haze by the way, what's yours?" ,Steele had a feeling he could trust this Pegasus, so he gently took his hoof and shook it, "my names Steele" he said as they let go of each others hoof's. "you know, I could teach you what I know about flying, at least enough to stop them from picking on you" Haze said as he floated in the air, "I'd like that, a lot" he said as Haze landed on the side of him, he then stretched is hoof around Steele's shoulder, "ya know, I think we're going to be great friends from now on" Haze said as he walked away laughing, Steele just joined in the laughter, he knew then that he could trust this pony, maybe even with his life.

(End flashback)

Steele let a small tear fall onto the bed, his thoughts we're interrupted by Twilight and Spike coming in doorway, "Steele, we're ready, let's get to the train station" she saw the painful look in his eyes, "alright, I'm ready, let's go" he said as he grabbed his pack and followed Twilight out the door.

(Ponyville train station)

As Steele and Twilight reached the station, he saw that they were actually the last ones to get there, the others had already arrived. "Wow, you guy's are fast, alright I'll get the tickets" he said as he walked up to the ticket booth, "yes sir, can I help you?" asked the pony behind the booth in a friendly tone, "yes, I need seven tickets for the next train to canterlot" he said as he reached into his pocket for his pouch of bits. "well, you're in luck sir, the train leaves in five minutes, that will be fourteen bits, please" the pony said, Steele fished out the exact amount and placed it one the counter, "thank you, have a nice ride sir" said the cashier as he handed Steele the tickets, he then proceeded to distribute the tickets between his friends.

After about five minutes, they heard the conductor yell from across the platform, "all aboard!" he yelled through the ear piercing screech of the train horn. "Come on, the trains leaving" Steele said as they all boarded the train and headed for canterlot.

(Everfree forest)

Shade and a group of pegasi and unicorns had found the crash site; they found no trace of Steele and his friends.

"_Well, what have you found shade, any sign of them?"_ an impatient Haze said from the other side of the headset, Shade was wearing. "Nothing here sir, all we found was the balloon and some hoof prints leading back to town" Shade answered back.

"_Dam it!"_ Haze shouted over the headset, causing Shade, to reel his head back and adjust the sound, _"very well, gather everypony up, head back to base, we have work to do, and plans to make"_ Haze said as he calmed down from the other side of the connection. "Alright! Rap it up, we're leaving!" Shade shouted to his group, they then proceeded to enter their balloon and head back up to cloudsdale.


	11. Chapter 10

A/N: yay! Another chapter is up.

Wings of steel: chapter 10: the journey to canterlot

As Steele and his friends were on the train to canterlot, Steele listened to twilight and her friends laugh and try their best to lighten the mood of their situation, luckily they managed to get a single car all to themselves.

Steele himself was on the other side of the car, as he stared out the window, as the landscape passed by them, Steele became lost in thought, the new realization, that his oldest friend had betrayed him and murdered his family, was too much to bear, but he managed to suppress tears , for twilight's sake.

Steele, tried his best not to think about it, instead he focused on his current goal, to warn princess celestia about the threat haze brings with his private army, knowing him for so long, steele, knew haze will do everything in his power to get what he wants' even if he has to murder.

But something in the back of steel's mind was trying to push its way to the surface, he did his best to resist, but he learned in the past that he couldn't do it for long, as it eventually made its way to the front of his mind.

(Flashback) 5 years ago

As haze and Steele made their way through the streets of cloudsdale, little did they know that it was the day that would change Steele's life forever, "so…what do you want to do next?" said the young haze as they flew by each other, Steele and haze had known each other for two years now, and they had become the best of friends, since the day haze defended steele from the bullies.

In that time, haze had taught Steele how to fly, and he had become just as good as haze himself, if not better. "I don't know…oh wait isn't there that race between that one filly rainbow dash against those two other ones…oh I forgot their name's, we could always see that" Steele suggested as he landed in front of his friend on a cloud.

"I guess we could" haze said as he took off in the direction of the starting line. When they arrived, they took their seats above the crowd on a cloud viewing the entire race track. "I bet ya, three bits that she wins" Steele said as he pointed at the young cyan filly as they took their places at the starting line. He then saw a young yellow Pegasus wave the flag as they took off, suddenly the area was filled with the shouting and cheering of the other pegasi.

Even Steele and haze found themselves cheering, for the cyan filly that had the guts to stand up for another that couldn't defend herself. As they turned a corner, and out of their sight, steele looked to the side at his friend, he was about to speak, until something on the other side of the arena caught his eye, everything seemed to slow, as he laid his eyes on the most beautiful mare he had ever seen, luckily for him she didn't see him, so he had his chance to observe her from a distance, she had a beautiful purple mane, that fell perfectly down her face, her cutie mark was that of a telescope observing three falling stars, it was then that steele felt a lump in his throat, as he completely forgot about the race, and was now entirely focused on her, he was snapped back to reality by haze, "hey steele…hello…anypony home" he said as he waved his hoof in his face, "huh…what, oh what is it?" Steele asked as he returned his attention back his friend, :dude…you're missing the race" haze said as he turned his attention back to the action, by this time one of the racers had been knocked out as he crashed head first into a cloud pillar, leaving only rainbow dash and the other Pegasus competing fiercely for first place, the other one even relying on cheating as he shoved the cyan filly out of the way and said "later, rainbow crash!" he said as he sped in front of her.

Steele focused, secretly focused his attention back to the mare, but saw that she wasn't there anymore, he knew he had to meet her in person, "uh…haze, I'm going to get a snack" he said as he took off and attempted to find her. "Oh…bring me back some popcorn" haze yelled after him, but Steele didn't hear him, he had to find this mare.

Fortunately, luck was in his favor, as he saw her next in line at the food stand, he knew this was his chance to meet her, as they got in line luckily his line was faster than hers, so by the time they reached the vendor they were next to each other, he couldn't help but glance at her, when she returned his look, he quickly glanced away, as the vendor left to bring them more fresh popcorn, it seemed fate, had intended this, for everypony behind them had gone to a different vendor, leaving only them.

The mare then turned to him, and asked, "Are you following me?" she asked as she eyed him up and down, "uh…no, I'm sorry if it seemed I was" he said as they continued to wait for the food. "You…look familiar, have we met before?" she asked as she looked into his deep blue eyes.

"it's possible, I seem to get that a lot from other mares", he said as he grinned, luckily she didn't take it the wrong way, instead she laughed, it was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard in his life, he found himself laughing too. When they both calmed down, there was a few milliseconds of silence, before one of them broke the silence, "I'm steele, by the way" he said as he extended his hoof in a friendly and welcoming fashion, "my name is star shooter, my friends call me star" she said as she gladly took his hoof and shook it.

"So…star, how are you enjoying the race?" he asked as they finally received their snacks, instead of parting ways they actually went to sit at a nearby bench and sat, "oh, I think its wonderful, how that filly rainbow dash, stood up against those brutes" she said as she looked deep into his eyes, he was about to answer, but he was stopped when the entire stadium, shook and was filled by a blinding colorful explosion forced them to shut their eyes.

When it stopped, they looked up in the sky, and saw the most beautiful rainbow they had ever seen in their lives. "Wow! She actually did the sonic rainboom!" star said as they both looked up in the sky, "its beautiful…" she said as she stared at the sky in amazement, steele simply looked at her, and said, "yeah…beautiful" as he looked over her beautiful mane and face. When he didn't answer she turned to him and saw him staring at her.

He shook it off, which caused her to laugh, she then took out a small pocket watch, and her eye's widened, "oh! I've got to go" she said as she turned to face him and saw the slightly depressed look on his face, which she equally returned. "Hey…don't feel bad, maybe I'll see you around" she said as she took out a piece of paper and wrote on it. "Here, this is where I live, maybe you could come over sometime" she said with a smile on her face, which seemed to change his mood. "Yeah…maybe, I'll see you later" he said as he took the paper and put it in his pocket.

She then proceeded to fly off into the clouds to meet her friend, at this point, something in steele, seemed to burst, there was something about this mare that changed something in steele forever, he could no longer deny, he was in love with star, during his years of advanced flight school, he had always kept his eye's on the mares, but something about her was different, it was true love, he felt as if they we're meant to be together, he had to see her again and soon.

Soon he realized that haze was still waiting for him up in the bleachers, so he flew there as fast as he possibly could, with a broad smile on his face.

(End flashback)

"Steele!" he heard somepony yell, he shook himself awake and found that he had dozed off in the car, he looked around and saw that it was twilight that had awaken him, "what…what is it?" he asked as he rubbed his eye's. "We're here, come on, we need to tell the princess, what you know" she said as she and her friends turned and walked off the car. Steele got off the seat, and followed them, hoping that he could have a dream like that again.

A/N: this chapter was to solely, go further into Steele's story, the next chapter things pick up again, that I promise.


	12. Chapter 11

A/N: like I said, thing will get back to the way they were, so enjoy

Wings of steel: chapter 11: the castle

As Steele and his friends walked through the streets, Steele remembered all the times he came here with star; sometimes it was on business, others it was vacation, or for their anniversary. As they made their way through the streets, they began to notice the gates of the castle coming into view, twilight and Steele were silent themselves, but the others were talking amongst themselves, leaving twilight to talk with Steele alone.

"you do know, it won't be easy to just walk in and talk to the princess, the guards probably wont believe you, and even if they did, you would have to convince the captain of the guards, before you see her" twilight said as she walked along steele, her friends only a few steps behind, "I'm well aware of that, but if they want to stop a possible catastrophe, they will have to listen" he said as he starred forward as they approached the castle gates.

When they finally reached the gate, they were stopped by two royal guards wearing their golden armor. "Sorry you can't go into the castle, the princess is in an important meeting, nopony is allowed on the grounds" the guard said as they stepped in front Steele and his friends, "we understand, but we have urgent message to give to the princess" steele said with a calm yet serious face, "sorry sir, we are under strict orders from the captain, to not let anypony in" one of the guard said as he refused to move out of the way.

"Okay, if we can't see the princess, at least let us see, the captain of the royal guards, this is a matter of national security" Steele said with a small hint of annoyance in his voice. At this point the two guards looked at each other, "sorry, if it's that important, you can tell us, and we'll pass it to the captain" the other said as they looked back at steele, suddenly one of the guards, looked behind steele, and looked at twilight, noticing her for the first time, they looked at each other and sighed, very well" he said as he raised his hoof to his ears, and spoke.

(Canterlot castle, council chambers)

Princess celestia, had been listening to the other delegates argue, she kept her usual calm face, but in side she was irritated by their arguing, on the outside of the chambers the guards paced back and fourth, until one of them raised his hoof to his ear, and listened to an oncoming message.

"Sorry to disturb you sir, I have twilight sparkle and her friends, along with a Pegasus named Steele at the front gate, requesting to see the captain, they say it's very urgent" said the guard from the front gate on the other side of the line. The unicorn nodded and motioned for the other to follow him into the room, as they entered their presence was hardly noticed due to the bickering and arguing of the delegates, as they walked up to the captain, who was just as frustrated as the princess, only he was showing it.

When the unicorn whispered in his ears, his eyes widened, as he nodded to him, he then turned to the princess, who looked at him, he then rose, and walked up to her, the princess leaned down slightly so he could deliver the message to her. When he whispered it into her ears, her eyes also widened slightly, she then stood and spoke in a calm voice that silenced the delegates as they turned to her, "I apologize, delegates, something has come up in the royal guard, something that requires my personal attendance, If you will excuse me" she said as she followed the captain out of the room.

(Canterlot castle, throne room)

As Steele, twilight and her friends waited for the princess and the captain, Steele himself was very anxious, haze's threat would have to be dealt with before he could act on it. He was forced from his thoughts when the door on the other side of the throne room opened up, when they turned to see who it was, they saw both the princess and the captain, as they entered into the room, steele noticed that princess Luna walked in behind her sister, steele remembered, twilight talking about how princess Luna had come to ponyville to visit, during nightmare night, but he had never seen her in the flesh.

When the princess's and the captain walked up to twilight and her friends, they gave their best bow to both of them. "Twilight, it's always good to see you and your friends, and you too Steele" the princess said as twilight and her friends rose from their bowing position. "Now I must ask, why did you come here, I was in the middle of a meeting" she said with a calm face, we're sorry princess, but we came here to tell you something important" twilight said as she turned to face steele, causing the princess to look towards him as well.

"Yes, princess, we came here to say that we discovered a terrible truth" steele said with his head slightly lowered to the ground, "oh, and what might that be?" the princess said with a raised eyebrow. "a few days after you left, I ran into an old friend of mine, who happened to be the most successful buisnesspony in equestria, I learned that he was the one who started the fire in ponyville, the same fire that killed my family as well as others" he said as he looked into the princesses eye's, "what, that's impossible, the guards who were there that night told me that the fire was started by complete accident" the captain said finally speaking out loud.

"I thought it was too, but the look in his eye's told me he was serious, plus, he also told me he was the one who ordered the attack on twilight, and her friends we're next" he said as he turned to face the captain. The captain was silent for a few seconds, the one to break the silence was princess celestia, "are you sure about this, your right, this is very serious" the princess said as she eyed steele up and down, "unfortunately, your majesty, I am telling the truth, I've known him for years and he doesn't joke around, he also told me he has his own private army, who knows what he might do" steele said as he looked from the princess to the captain.

"if he is the one, who ordered that fire and the attempted assassination of twilight, that makes him a traitor" the captain said as he turned to a guard and was about to give an order, but was stopped by princess celestia, "calm yourself captain, while I fully believe steele, I still can't figure out why he would do this" the princess said as she turned away and walked to the window that surveyed the palace labyrinth, "unfortunately, I know that as well, he did it because I refused to join him in his business, because I had a family" steele said as he was about to move but was stopped by a spear pointed straight at his chest, followed by several more, "so it's your fault" the captain said as he pointed a spear at steele.

"No captain, it is not his fault, the fault is entirely upon his friend, if he is telling the truth, which I believe he is, we must act quickly, before it's too late" the princess said as she turned back from the window and walked back to Steele and his friends. When she said that, the captain and the guards lowered their weapons, he then turned to her and bowed, "my apologies, your highness, what are your orders" he said back to his calm voice, "heighten the alert in all towns especially, cloudsdale and ponyville, since that is where they will most likely strike" the princess said, she the turned to steele and twilight, "I am truly grateful you came to warn me about this, you made the right choice, don't worry we will catch him before he does anything" the princess said as she turned to face the captain, "deliver the orders to all towns and villages" she said, the captain nodded and proceeded to leave the room followed by the guards.

"please, excuse the captain, he is a great soldier, and he takes his job seriously, but can be a bit harsh sometimes" the princess said as she laughed light heartedly, "very well, you can stay here in the castle until this is resolved, I will go to the delegates and present this information tomorrow, I would like you all to be there, guard, please escort twilight and her friends to their suites" she said as they all began to follow the guard with the princess in tow.

"steele, I don't believe you have met my sister, princess Luna" she said as she steeped out of the way and let her younger step forward, it's an honor to finally meet you, your highness" steele said as he took her hoof and lightly kissed it, "charmed, my sister has told me much about you, and how you saved twilight sparkle's life" she said as she smiled at him, steele remembered how twilight told him that, she still didn't know how to speak properly, since her banishment.

"we will handle this situation, get some rest steele, you looked exhausted, we will talk in the morning" the princess said as she turned and walked away, followed by her sister, steele then noticed that the sun was setting in the distance, he then yawned loudly an followed the guard to his suite.

(Later…)

As Steele unpacked his belongings from earlier, he couldn't help but remember what haze said, _"I did it for your own good, call it a friendly favor"_ the moment those painful words reentered his mind, his anger came back, as he lifted the pack in his mouth, and threw it as hard as he could against the wall, he breathed a shaky breath as tears poured down his cheeks, he then sat on the bed, as he let all the new found sorrow out. When he looked around his room again, he decided to go and lift his pack off the ground, as he approached he noticed something was hanging out of the bag, when he moved the bag and placed it on the drawer beside him, when he lifted it of the ground he saw that it was his old picture album, he then sighed sadly as he took it on the bed and opened it, some of them were pictures of him as a young colt, some of the first few times of him and haze hanging out in flight school, when he turned to a page he saw a picture of one of the best days of his life, he saw the picture of him and star on their first date.

He then flipped slowly through those pages, until he reached a picture of the day he proposed to star, he couldn't help but smile, even with tears in his eyes.

(Flashback) 5 years ago

It was the time of the grand galloping gala, and Steele promised he would take star for their celebration of the first day they met two years prior, as steele and star entered the ball room the first thing star asked, "would you like to dance?" she said as she faced him, steele didn't get a chance to answer as he was pulled by star into the middle of the crowd, they then slowly moved to the rhythm of the music as the orchestra played soft waltz music, their bodies began to sync with the music as they danced closer to each other, once they were close enough, steele could feel her breath on his neck, and could smell her beautiful mane.

The world seemed to slow down, and all the other ponies watched them as they danced, for the past two years, steele and star grew closer until the day they finally exposed their true feelings for each other, they had been together ever since, as the music came to a stop, all the ponies watching them began to stomp their hooves on the ground in excitement, when they realized they were both being watched, they turned beet red, soon every other pony went back to their own business and enjoyed their nights, but steele had a better idea in store.

"star…can I talk to you…outside" steele said nervously as she giggled and nodded her head, they then walked out into the castle gardens, when they reached a private gazebo, steele looked around to make sure they were alone, after he was satisfied he turned to her and looked deeply into her hazel eyes, "star.., you know I love you" he sad as he took her hoof in his, " of course, I do, and I love you back more" this comment made him laugh lightly, but his face turned serious again, "it's been two years, today, since we first met, what I am trying to say is that those have been the best two years of my life" he said as he still held her hoof in his, star herself had an idea where this was going but she didn't have any complaints, "you're the best thing that's ever happened to me, you're beautiful, kind, and funny, what I am really trying to say is…I want to spend the rest of my life…with you" he said as he reached into his suit pocket and brought out a small black box, when she star saw it, she gasped, but still didn't say anything, "star shooter…will you marry me" he said as he opened the box revealing a small gold ring, with a small diamond in it, star's eye's filled with tears of joy as she took the box and looked him in the eye's, "YES!, yes of course I will marry you" she shouted as she grabbed his collar and kissed him deeply on the lips, which he gladly returned, "oh…steele I love it, but not as much as I love you" she said as they walked back to have the best night of their lives.

(End flashback)

As Steele thought back to that day, he couldn't help but think what would have happened, if they weren't killed in the fire, but he knew he would never find out. He then flipped to another page with pictures, of the most memorable days of his life, and one of the happiest. He had found the picture of their wedding day.

(Flashback) 5 years ago

As steele put on his suit, he knew today was the biggest day of his life, today was the day he would be wed, to the love of his life, just then his best stallion came in and told him to hurry up, "hurry up steele, you're going to be late for your own wedding" haze said as he hurried his friend, steele had chosen haze to be his best stallion, due to their long time friendship, and haze gladly accepted his friends offer.

"okay…I'm coming" he said as he hurried out the door and to the alter, where he waited for the session to begin, soon the orchestra came up as all the ponies in the church rose up and faced the door, as the brief entered the room led by her father, during the years they had known each other, steele got to know star's mother and father really well, in their opinion they couldn't think of a better stallion to give their daughter away to, when the finally reached the alter, star's father took his seat in the front row next to his wife, soon all the ponies took their seats. Soon the priest came up to begin the ceremony, as he cleared his throat Steele couldn't help but look at his beautiful soon to be wife.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today before the sight of celestia to join this stallion and this mare in holy matrimony, to have and to hold from this day forward, steele do you take this mare to be your lawfully wedded wife, in sickness and in health, till death do you part" he said as he looked to steele, steele looked at his bride and said "I do" he turned his attention back to the priest, "star shooter, do you take this stallion to be your lawfully wedded husband, in sickness and in health till death do you part" he said as he turned to star, "I do" she said as she turned to her soon to be husband, "is there any in this room, who believe these two should not be wed, please speak now or forever hold your peace" he said to the rest of the ponies in the room, when nopony spoke the priest turned back to the couple before him, " by the power vested in me, I hereby pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss your bride" he said as he looked at steele, he turned to face his bride, as he pulled back her veil, revealing her beautiful hazel eye's suddenly star leaned forward sealing their lips in a passionate kiss, officially making them a married couple, the entire room erupted into fits of cheering.

Steele turned and faced his friend, who had a large smile on his face, as he joined in the applause, the couple then proceeded to run down the aisle and out the door, where a large chariot with a banner that said "just married" on it, they got in and the drivers took off in the direction of where the reception was going to take place.

(End flashback)

Steele smiled at the happiest memory of his life, the one vow that he remembered was "till death do us part" when he remembered that line the tears returned to his eyes, when he realized that death had already parted star.

Instead of forcing more painful memories back into his head, he decided to finally go to bed, when he looked out the window, he saw that the sun was nearly fully set in the horizon, suddenly his thought was interrupted by a loud and heavy yawn, and he realized he hasn't had a full night's sleep in a few days now, he pushed the album on the bedside table, as he got in the covers and turned off the light, the room was filled with darkness, and as he watched the moon being risen, probably from princess Luna, he closed his eyes and slowly descended into sleep.

A/N: well…I guess I was wrong, this chapter was a little bit of both, oh well, both continuing the story and going even deeper into Steele's background, the next chapter will be out soon, see ya then.


	13. Chapter 12

A/N: now is when the really interesting things happen, that I can promise.

Wings of steel: chapter 12: the takeover pt. 1

When steele awoke he heard the sounds of birds chirping, he felt the sun beat down on him as he shifted in bed, feeling fully rested, he sat up and stretched his hooves in the air, he then remembered that the princess was to present the information he had provided to the royal court, he decided to get up take a shower, and get properly dressed.

(Later…)

After taking his shower, he dried his mane and his coat with a towel that was hanging on the wall, he then quickly dried his metal wings so that they would not rust, he remembered that when he made them he used a special anti-rust liquid, that he had made before all of this.

As he walked out of the bathroom he decided to put on a fresh cloak, so that he would look presentable to the delegates of the royal court, as well as the princesses. After he had gotten fully dressed he heard a knock on the door, when he opened it he saw one of the royal guards, outside his door, "sorry sir, am I interrupting something?" the guard asked as he peered inside the room, "oh no, I was just getting ready for the day" steele answered as he looked the guard in the eye's.

"good, the princess has requested your audience in the council chambers" the guard said as he moved out of the way for steele to move past him, "yes, I'm coming" steele said as he walked out of the door and followed the guard to the council chambers.

(Ponyville square)

It was a beautiful sunny day, and all the ponies went about their day, unknowingly being watched from a nearby alley, "look at them, completely oblivious to what's about to happen" said a hooded Pegasus as he watched the simple pony folk walk on by. "Sir, we're ready" said a hooded unicorn as he walked up to the Pegasus, "are the troops in position?" he asked as he turned to face the unicorn, "Yes sir, we have to move quickly before we are spotted" the unicorn suggested.

"I agree, let's go" he said as they left the shadows of the alley, and into the sunlight, luckily for them they blended in well with the crowd, making them seem ordinary, as they made their way to town hall they had kept a close eye out for any royal guards, if they would be caught, their whole operation would be ruined.

When they entered the building the first thing they saw was a desk with a pony, who they assumed, was the mayor's secretary, when they approached the desk, they were asked by the pony at the front desk, "yes can I help you?" she asked as she eyed them up and down suspiciously, "yes, we are here to see the mayor" he said trying to act as calm as possible. "sorry sir, the mayor is not seeing anypony today" she said as she resumed her work, "we understand miss, but we are on important business from canterlot" he said as he kept his calm face, "canterlot?…very well I'll see if she is available, I'll be right back" she said as she made her way to the door, "please take your time" he said with a smile on his face, when she disappeared around the corner, his smile quickly vanished, the hooded unicorn walked up to him, "do you think they are suspicious?" he asked as he turned to him, "it doesn't matter, we'll do this the easy way or the hard way" he said as he turned to the unicorn, with a sick smile on his face.

(Mayor's office)

The mayor was sitting at her desk, filling out paperwork, nightmare night was only a month and a half away, and she was getting preparations underway, she was taken from her thoughts when she heard a knock on the door, "yes come in" she said as she got from her chair and walked around the desk, when the door opened she saw her secretary come in, "I thought I said I wasn't taking any visitors today" she said with a slight scowl, "yes, I know, but miss mayor, a group of ponies have arrived from canterlot, saying they are on official business from the princess" she said, this comment surprised the mayor but she still kept a straight face, "what? I don't have any meetings today" the mayor said as she turned to face her secretary, "that's what I told them" she said back, "what do we do, they are obviously lying" she said as she stared at the mayor, "send them in, I will figure this out, in the mean time have security ready" the mayor said as turned back to the window.

When the secretary walked back out to the reception desk, she saw the same ponies talking amongst each other, she then cleared her throat In order to get their attention, when they turned and looked at her she spoke, "yes, the mayor will see you now" she said as she moved to the side, allowing them to pass, when they disappeared around the corner, she picked up a small headset, and said, "security, we might have a problem"

When they entered the mayor's office they found her back to them, "to be truthful I wasn't expecting any visitor's from canterlot" she said as she turned to face them, she noticed that they didn't wear the official canterlot business outfit, "yes we have important things to talk about" the leader said as they moved around her. "Yes, well feel free to have a seat, and we can get down to business" she said as she turned around and walked calmly to her desk, when she almost reached it, she suddenly heard the sound of the door locking.

When she turned around she saw one of the ponies, with his hoof on the door, "what is this, you're not really from canterlot are you" she said as she looked around nervously, "clearly, your ability to see through our disguises, never seizes to amaze me, but we are here on business" he said as he motioned his group, they then brought out crossbows that were concealed inside their coats and aimed them at the mayor, "who are you?" the mayor asked fear evident in her voice, the leader just smile as he took off his hood, "my name is haze, and you work for us now, miss mayor" he said as he laughed, followed by his group, "what if I refuse?" the mayor asked as she tried to remain brave, but haze could see right through her, 'well, I never said you had to believe me, but if you care for the these pathetic citizens, you will do what I say" he said with a straight face, as the mayor stared into his eye's she could tell he was serious, instead of challenging him and risking the lives of all the citizens in ponyville, she had no choice but to give in, "very well, you win haze" she said with her head bowed in shame, "a wise choice miss mayor, okay the first thing you're going to do is call a town meeting" he said with a sinister grin on his face.

(Ponyville square)

After receiving new orders from the captain of the guard, multiple units had been dispersed to all towns and cities. "this is sergeant sky lance, reporting in, no activity in ponyville, I repeat no activity in ponyville" he spoke into his headset, the sergeant had been under cover, he was wearing a cloak, in order to hide his uniform from other ponies, suddenly he saw a commotion gathering around town square, "hold on, lieutenant are you there?" he spoke into the headset, at first he didn't hear anything, so he spoke again, "lieutenant, report in" he said louder, this time he got a response, _"sorry sir, I was a bit tied up" _the lieutenant said from the other side of the line.

"never mind that, there seems to be activity at town hall, I'm going to see what's going on, I want you to fly up and observe from the roof" he said as he started walking to the growing group of ponies, _"understood, sir"_ he heard the lieutenant say.

When he walked into the building he saw what had to be every single pony who lived in the town, when they had all entered the room, the doors behind them swung slowly shut, causing multiple gasps and cries, suddenly a light shown from the ceiling, revealed the stand, but instead of the mayor walking up, they saw a pony that none of them recognized, when he reached the stand he cleared his throat and spoke, "greetings, citizens of ponyville, my name is haze, some of you may know me, as the owner for the wealthiest business in equestria, but that is not why I am here today, today I am here on a very special and important business venture, and it will require all of your participation, I will be taking over jurisdiction of ponyville for the next few days, but rest assured it will not interfere with your daily lives" he said as he looked over the crowd, which had erupted in to cries of disapproval.

Knowing this would happen, haze motioned with his hoof for his group to act, suddenly the door they had entered from burst open, and a couple dozen pegasi and unicorns came in all armed with crossbows. All of the ponies began to run around and scream in fear, haze had enough already, "silence!" he yelled over the crowd, causing them to stop and look at him, "now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, any more questions" he said with a frown on his face, suddenly only one voice spoke up, "hold it right there pal" said a hooded pony as he stepped into the middle of the group, causing all the ponies to back off and give him space.

"Who might you be?" haze asked as he eyed this brave but foolish pony up and down, the pony then tore off his cloak with his teeth revealing the shinning golden armor of the royal guard, this only made haze raise and eyebrow, "my name is sergeant sky lance of the royal guard, and by order of princess celestia, I am placing you and your followers under arrest for crimes against the kingdom" he said proudly causing all of the ponies around him to erupt in cheer and applause, this threat made haze slightly surprised but, he just smiled and laughed it off, suddenly blade came forward with a crossbow aimed at the sergeant, he was about to fire, but he was stopped by haze, "no blade, he wants to be the hero, then let him, very well sir, you've caught me, I will go peacefully, but you have to come and get me first" he said with a grin on his face.

"Are you challenging me?" the guard said as he took a fighting position and readied his wings. "Take it as a challenge, if you want to" haze said as he waited for the sergeant to make the first move, "you're making a huge mistake" the sergeant said as he began to take off in the air, "let's find out" haze said with a clam and straight face, when the sergeant took off in the air, he flew almost to the top off the building, he then did a back flip, and sped downward, straight at haze, who remained unusually calm. When he was a mere few yards away, a sick smile appeared on hazes face, as he readied in an attack position.

Suddenly quicker than lightning, haze threw something at the sergeant, it seemed to shine in the sunlight, luckily for haze he was a very skilled marksman, the object hit the sergeant and caused him to fly out of control and miss his target as he crashed into the ground behind haze causing a small dust cloud.

When the smoke cleared the saw the sergeant on his side, a large puddle of blood underneath him, when the crowd saw where the blood was coming from, they saw a large knife lodged into the sergeant's throat, as the guard slowly choked on his own blood, haze walked up to him, and quickly pulled the blade out of his neck, "poor old fool" haze said as he walked back up to the crowd, "now then, does anypony else feel like being the hero" he said, but his only response was silence, as he looked over the crowd he saw their expressions of fear and shock, "do as I say and you will all live through this Endeavour, fail to do so, and the consequences will be…severe" he said as he turned from the crowd and back to the body of the officer.

The rest of his army had begun funneling out the rest of the citizens to their holding area's, blade walked up to haze and asked, "sir what are your orders?" haze turned to face him and sighed, "lock down the town, we're sending a little message to the royal court" he said with a sick grin.

(Canterlot castle, council chambers)

The meeting was now officially in session, and again the princess was forced to listen to delegates argue back and forth, but this time it was different, as the princess stood and addressed the delegates she cleared her throat causing all of them to turn and face her, "delegates, while I understand what it is you are arguing about, that is not why I called you here again and so soon, after receiving intelligence by a respected individual…" she said as she winked at steele who was sitting next to twilight and her friends beside her at the large table, "…it has come to my attention, that we are being threatened by a group of ponies that live in this very nation, they have made threats against the public, and will stop at nothing to gain their goals, It is my strongest interest to handle this matter before it gets out of our control" she said as she sat down again and looked over all the delegates who had shocked expressions in their eyes, until the first one spoke up, "with all due respect your majesty, how are we supposed to believe this individual of yours" he asked suspiciously, "it is because I believe him, and so should all of you" she said as she looked at the delegate who had spoken out of turn, "during this time I have instructed the captain of the royal guard to distribute extra guards to each town where it is most likely they will strike".

Before any of them could answer, the door burst open, and in came one of the guards, when he stopped at the far end of the table, he looked completely out of breath, "guard, we are in the middle of a meeting" one of the delegates said as he turned to the guard, "yes, I am sorry, but we've just received word from ponyville" he said as he began to gain his breath back, "yes well speak" another delegate said, "apparently, sergeant sky lance was killed by this unknown group of ponies, they have taken over ponyville, and are holding all the citizens hostage" this comment put a shocked expression on all their faces, even the princess.

"What, how do you know this?" the same delegate asked, "we received a message from the lieutenant who witnessed the whole thing, he said a group of ponies, led by one called haze, he killed the sergeant and then with his own private army sealed off the town, we also received this video cartridge, from ponyville, we believe it is a distress signal, from the remaining guards who we're forced out of the town" he said as he looked at the princess, finally the princess spoke, "very well, you may play it" she said with concern evident in her voice.

The guard nodded and walked to a video projector, he then inserted the roll into the machine and turned it on, after it started up, the face of a familiar pony appeared on screen, causing Steele's natural gray coat, to turn as white as snow.

"_greetings, your majesty, and members of the royal court, as you no doubt have guessed my name is haze, and yes I am the one who has taken control of ponyville, rest assured the citizens are all fine, aside from the ones who attempted to escape, as for my demands they are quite simple, all I want, is for my old friend steele and his new friends to come here alone, and if they try anything, I will kill every single pony in this town, starting with the youngest fillies and colts, it's not wise to challenge me your highness, just ask sergeant sky lance, oh and steele, if you are listening to this and I know you are, the lives of all these ponies are in your hooves, the choice is yours my friend"_ suddenly the video shut off and lights in the room came back on.

The room was silent for minutes, but it seemed like hours, suddenly the princess stood up, "this meeting is adjourned" she then motioned for the captain to follow her, "steele, you and your friends need to came with us" she said as she passed by them, as they left the room the only ponies left were the other delegates, who slowly proceeded to leave silently.

A/N: yep like I said this chapter was interesting, the next chapter will be up soon.


	14. Chapter 13

A/N: yes, it is here, the next chapter, and as always the suspense still rises.

Wings of steel: chapter 13: the takeover pt. 2

As Twilight and her friends waited anxiously inside the castle throne room, they couldn't help but be worried, their home town had been taken hostage by haze and his army, Steele on the other hoof had gone into another room to talk privately with the princesses and the captain, it was up to them to stop this, if they didn't show up, Haze would murder ever pony in the town until they are all dead.

As much as they were nervous, none were more so than Twilight, who was nervously pacing back and fourth. Suddenly the door on the other side of the room flew open and in walked the princesses followed by the captain, when Steele entered, they saw that he had his head down, instead of speaking or looking at twilight; he just walked past them and up to the window.

Twilight then walked up to the princess, who had a solemn look on her face, "princess, what are we going to do, we have to stop him" Twilight said as she looked up into the princesses eye's, but instead of answering her, the princess walked past her and up to steele. When they looked at each other, steele sighed, but didn't turn around, after a few minutes of heavy silence, suddenly Princess Celestia spoke, "we are going to do everything in our power to stop Haze" she said as she to face her student and her friends.

" but how, he has all the ponies hostage, and if we try anything he'll just kill them" twilight said worriedly, "we are all well aware, with the risks" the captain said as he walked past twilight and up to the princess, "we need a plan, we can't just let him win, who knows, even if Steele turns himself in, he still might just kill them all" Twilight said as she looked at her friend who still hadn't spoken, "no…if there's one thing I know about him, is that he always keeps his word, as for the plan, we are going to do what he wants" Steele said as he raised his head and turned to face his friends.

"what, but why, if we do that he wins" Twilight said with a small hint of anger towards Steele for giving up so easily, "if you will let me finish" Steele said interrupting Twilight, "I said we will do what he wants, after we free the captives" Steele said with a smile on his face, this only made Twilight and her friends smile as well, "but how, we don't know where he has them" Applejack said speaking out loud for the first time.

"actually we do, ever since we received word, that ponyville was taken over, we have had small reconnaissance missions launched from clousdale, after gaining enough Intel, we believe he has the prisoners kept in three separate places" the captain said proudly, he then motioned for all of them to follow him.

(Canterlot castle, royal guard headquarters)

As the princess and the captain walked down a large hallway, the first thing they realized, was that this was not apart of the castle, as they entered a large door, they came into a large room filled with other ponies all dressed with the royal golden armor, when the came to the stand in the middle of the room, the first thin they saw was a map. When they all gathered around the captain cleared his throat and spoke, "after receiving multiple reports we a certain that haze and his followers have placed all the hostages in locations thought ponyville" he said as he marked three different locations, "one is here at Sweet Apple Acres, another is here at Sugarcube corner, and the final is here at town hall" he said as he observed the map, unfortunately, what he said made no sense to Twilight and her friends, but Steele understood completely.

"Do we know how many are guarding each of these locations?" Steele asked from across the desk. This comment made the captain frown, "unfortunately, that is the problem, we don't know how many we are dealing with" he said as he stared at Steele, "so what's the plan?" Steele asked ignoring the captain's comment.

"What we plan to do is, send multiple teams, to each location, free the captives and then confront Haze" the captain said as he looked at all the ponies at the table. "okay, but I want to be apart of this" Steele said as he looked the captain dead in the eye's, but he merely laughed, "sorry, better leave this sort of thing to the professionals" he said as he looked down at the table, but this only made Steele mad. He suddenly slammed his hoof startling all but the princess and the captain.

"Look, I've known Haze longer than you have, I should be apart of this, because I know his plan, I can predict his next move if we fail" Steele said as he hovered in the captains face, but it didn't seem to change his mind, until the princess spoke for the first time since they entered the room.

"captain, calm yourself, Steele makes a great point, let him be apart of this, in fact let him lead a team" the princess said as she smile at Steele, instead of arguing with her, the captain sighed and looked Steele in the eye's, "yes your majesty, but I will do it on one condition" he said with a smile, "what might that be?" Steele asked as he calmed down, "you can be the leader of one team, if Twilight and her friends are on a different one" he said as he glanced over to Twilight, Steele just sighed and looked at Twilight, "alright fine, deal" he said which made the captain smile.

"now then, we have a small outpost in cloudsdale, we can launch the operation from there" he said as he walked past Steele and up to his lieutenant, when he said cloudsdale, steele face went from calm to shocked, as he turned to follow the captain.

(Later…)

When they all boarded a balloon to cloudsdale, Twilight and her friends were all talking with the captain, but Steele himself was quite, he just walked to the side and looked out at the sky as they slowly moved closer to the floating city. Twilight noticed her friends loneliness, and decide to go talk to him, when she walked up to him he barley noticed her presence, "Steele what's wrong, you've been really on edge since the captain said we were going to cloudsdale?" she asked as she put a hoof on his shoulder.

He didn't turn to face her, instead he continued to stare out at the sky, "it's just that…I haven't been home, in over two years, my mom and dad live there" he said as he turned to face her, she only gasped, "your mom and dad, you never said anything about your parents" she said as she stared him in the eye's, he just sighed, "I haven't seen them in years, ever since Star died, I always thought that they also blamed me for her death, like I feared for so long" he said as he returned her gaze.

"But now you know, that nopony blames you for that" Twilight said, "I know maybe I can get the chance to see them again" he said as they both looked as the floating city grew closer in their sights.

(Royal guard, forward operating base)

When they landed they saw multiple blimps, as well as other ponies dressed in golden armor, loading the balloons. Steele's mind was else where, he saw the princess talking with the captain so he decided to ask her if he could go and see his parents, Twilight watched as Steele spoke to the princess, she saw the princess nod and Steele walk back to her, "the princess has agreed to postpone the operation for an hour or two, it gives me enough time" he said as he walked past her.

"Let me come with you, I'd love to meet your parents" Twilight said as she turned to follow him, but he stopped her, "No, this is something I need to by myself" Steele said as he took off in the direction of the city.

(Later…)

As Steele flew through a street in the city, he began to remember old memories from when he was young, until he came to the exact same house he grew up in, when he landed on the porch he hesitated as he knocked on the door, a few seconds past before the door open, revealing a slightly elderly mare, with a dark blue coat, "yes can I help you?" she asked as she stared at the young stallion on her front porch, Steele hesitated again but slowly brought his hoof up and pulled down his hood, revealing his face, her response was a loud gasp as she recognized who he was.

"S-steele is that you?" she asked with wide eye's, he only smiled and said, "Hi Mom" there was a few moments of silence between the two, and Steele fear grew larger, until she suddenly pulled him into a warming hug, "oh…it really is you" she said as tears formed in her eye's.

When he felt wetness on his shoulder he realized she was crying tears of joy, he gladly returned her hug as he rapped his hooves around her shoulders. Suddenly she pulled away and looked her son in the eyes. "Where have you been all this time?" she asked expecting a good answer, "I've been busy" he said with a small laugh, "well come inside, your dad will want to see you too" she said as she turned and walked back into the house.

As they came into a living room, Steele saw a elderly stallion in a chair, reading a book, "honey, look who's here" she said as she turned to her husband, as he set down the book he got up from the chair and turned to face him, when he rest his eye's on him, they also widened in shock, "Steele…is that you?" he said as he slowly walked forward, "Yeah Dad it's me" he said as he walked forward and hugged his father as they both had tears of joy.

"where have you been, we haven't seen you in over two years…ever since…Star died" they said as sad expressions overtook their faces, Steele just sighed and walked up to the fireplace and observed the pictures of when he was young, "that's partially why I am here" he said as he turned and faced them, "oh Steel…we never got to say how sorry we were for what happened, we both know you loved Star" they said as they looked him in the eye's.

"A few days ago, I learned a terrible truth…I found out that star was murdered…that fire was no accident" Steele said with a serious yet sad look on his face. What he said shocked them beyond anything they ever heard, " what…but the royal guards told us that it was an accident" his Mom said as she calmed down, "that's not the worst part, she was murdered…by Haze" he said as he turned away, now they both almost fainted.

"what…why would he do that, Haze was your best friend" his father asked as he looked at his son, who was still turned away, "I've been asking myself that question for days now, but he told me himself, he ordered that fire" he said as he faced his shocked parents, " the real reason I am here, is because after learning this, Haze went over the edge and taken all the citizens of Ponyville hostage, and we plan on stopping him" he said with an angry face.

His parents only sighed, "Steele, we both think that this is too dangerous" his mom said with heavy concern in her voice, "I know mom, but I need to do this, he wont stop until he gets what he wants, even at the cost of the lives of others" he answered her, knowing she couldn't stop him, he was to old now to have to listen to her, so she decided not to argue with him, "I am sorry mom, it for everypony's good" he said as he lifted her chin, and saw the tears in her eye's, "I came to say goodbye, just in case something happens and the plan fails" he said as he looked at his father.

His father looked slightly angry, "don't talk like that, you can make it, you always have" he said as he hugged his son one last time, "thanks Dad" he said as he returned the hug. "Wait let us come with you" his Mom said as she raised her head, Steele was about to say no, but he decided to let them.

As they walked through the streets Steele told them all about his travels, and how he met Twilight and her friends, he even spoke about seeing the princess face to face, they were both simply amazed, as they arrived at the base, they were stopped by the guard, but when he saw that they were with Steele he let them pass.

When they entered the base, the first thing they saw was the Princess talking with her student and the captain, when they were noticed the princess excused the captain. As they walked over to them, Steele's parents gave the best bow they could at their older age.

When the Princess saw them bow she motioned for them to rise, "you must be Steele's parents, an honor it is to meet you, you should be proud of your son, he is a hero" the princess said with a warm smile, "the honor is ours your highness" Steele's father said as they went back to their normal positions, "I you will excuse me, I have business to attend to" she aid as she walked past them and over to the captain, leaving only Steele, his parents and Twilight, "Mom, Dad, this is Twilight Sparkle, she is the princesses personal student" this comment really surprised them, "yes, Steele has told us a lot about you" she said with a smile on her face. Suddenly they heard a horn blow in the distance, both Twilight and Steele knew what it was.

When Steele turned back to his parents he saw that his Mom had tears in her eyes once again, he just gave them both one last hug, before he turned and walked with Twilight to the balloons, when Twilight and Steele separated they both walked to their assigned balloons, Steele ended up in a balloon with unicorns and pegasi he didn't recognize, but he assumed that they were his squad.

He looked to the balloon Twilight and her friends were in, as they both took off in the direction of ponyville.

(Skies above ponyville)

As Twilights balloon, went off in a different direction, he noticed his balloon was headed for sweet apple acres, "okay, here's the plan, we are landing on the edge of the farm, from there we make our way to the barn were the hostages are being kept, after we take out the enemy, we report our status to mission control, by that time, the other team would have freed the other hostages, and then we can apprehend Haze" he said as they landed, luckily the orchard was not that large, so they set out walking, only armed with knives and crossbows.

After at least twenty minutes of walking, they finally reached the barn, fortunately they saw very few guards patrolling the outside, so it was easy for them to gain access, as they turned the corner, two of them aimed crossbows at a set of guards walking by, when they passed them, without noticing them, the two unicorns fired and got direct shots, under these circumstances, the weapons they held, were arrows, tipped in a toxin that instantly knocks the target out.

When they fell to the ground, the two who shot the arrows said, "targets down, keep moving" they then proceeded to run to the other side of the barn, Steele was then instructed to fly to the top and observe from the roof, when he landed and looked inside the window, he saw a pony that he recognized as Shade, he seemed to be giving an order, Steele slowly opened the window so he could listen.

(Inside the barn)

"Here, deliver this status report to Haze, and report back here, and hurry" Shade said as he turned back to the crowd of captives huddled in the center, "what should we do with them" one of his soldiers ask, "we cant do anything until, Haze gives the orders" Shade said as he turned back to the soldier, suddenly they heard a large clanging sound from outside, "what was that?" Shade asked with a heavy suspicion, "have the guards reported in lately?" one guard asked another, the other then brought his hoof to his ear, "Private, report, what's going on out there?" he asked into his head set, but he received no answer.

Shade motioned for a group to go and investigate, Shade had a feeling what it was, but he would rather be sure, when they approached the door, one of the guards put his ear to the door, suddenly he heard a very faint beeping noise on the other side, as it got louder, suddenly the guards eyes widened as he quickly backed up, only to be met by a large explosion that blew the door off it's hinges.

Suddenly the room was filled by other Pegasi and Unicorns all shooting arrows, Shade had ducked behind a barrel, something inside him told him, not to fight. Due to their surprise the guards inside had quickly lost, as they were completely over whelmed, some refused, but others were smart and surrendered, Steele himself was busy freeing the captives as the group finished off the other ponies across the farm, suddenly he heard a arrow get pulled back on a crossbow, when he turned around he saw Shade with a crossbow, aimed straight at his heart, he stared him in the eye as Shade hesitated pulling the trigger.

Suddenly Shade's angry look disappeared, as he lowered his weapon, suddenly they heard the leader of the group calling Steele's name, then shade threw the weapon to the ground and took off in the air, and left through a window, when the captain found him, he said, "Steele, we have cleared out the rest, and captives are all safe, mission accomplished" he said happily, Steele turned to him, with a blank face, but he quickly smiled, "good, I will go and contact Twilight and her group and see if they have freed the others" Steele said as he walked past him and outside, and brought his hoof up to his ear.

"Twilight, come in, it's Steele, we have freed the captives at Sweet Apple Acres, what is the status on your end?" he asked, but he got no response so he tried again, "Twilight come in, are you there, talk to me" he said as he began to panic, finally he got his answer, but it wasn't what he expected.

"_She's not here Steele"_ he heard a familiar voice say from the other end of the line, his eyes grew in surprise and shock, "Haze?…you son of a bitch!, where is she, what did you do with her!" he yelled into the headset, the captain had noticed and walked up to him with a worried face.

"_such a temper Steele, really you must calm down, she's here with me, safe, for now, if you want to see her again, alive that is, you will come to town hall alone, and if you try anything, I will kill her just like I killed star, only this time I will make you watch her die, the clock is ticking, the choice is yours" _Haze said before the line went dead, during the time he was talking, he heard what he thought was crying, and recognized it as Twilight's. He took off the headset, and turned and walked past the captain, "where are you going?" he asked as he ran after him, "I'm going after Haze alone, he has Twilight and her friends captive, and he will kill them" he said as he continued walking, "well, let us come with you, it's probably a trap" he said as he continued to chase after Steele, "no…this is something I have to handle alone" he said as he stopped, he then proceeded to walk in the direction of the town.

(Ponyville town hall)

When Haze cut the line, he tossed it aside and turned back to the tied up Twilight and her friends, he then took off the wrap around her mouth, she spit as he walked past her, "he wont come, he's smarter than you think" Twilight said as she glared angrily at him, he just laughed and turned to face her, "oh he will come, I know he will, I have no doubt that he is smart, but I have the advantage…you, I have seen the way he looks at you, it was the same way he looked at Star the first time he met her, he will come, because he cares for you to much, I wont be surprised if he risks his own life for you" he said as he looked at her, "what are you going to do when he gets here, just kill him" she said with tears slowly forming in her eyes, "you will just have to wait and see" he said as he walked past her laughing.

A/N: I apologize for not updating in a few days, but like I said before, high school sucks, anyway, sadly we grow closer to the end, feel free to make any predictions, until next time.


	15. Chapter 14

A/N: the second to last chapter, and so it all comes to an end, so enjoy.

Wings of steel: chapter 14: the final confrontation

As steele made his way through the streets of ponyville, he noticed that the streets showed no signs of life, not even the guards were out patrolling, the only living thing he saw were a few birds that quietly nested in their tree's, as he grew closer, he began to notice some guards on the rooftops, all armed with crossbows, instead of aiming and firing at him, they just watched him as he continued walking.

When he reached the steps, he slowly climbed them, as he got in front of the door, he slowly moved his hooves up to the handle, he sighed as he pressed down and the door opened noisily, when he walked in, the first thing he noticed, was that the captain was, wrong, there were no prisoners in the building, at least none that he could see.

As he approached the center, he saw haze with twilight, right behind him, but he didn't see his other friends, the next thing he saw was blade, with a crossbow aimed directly at twilight's head, even that sight, made him want to charge, but he held back for twilight's sake.

He saw haze smile as he stopped in the middle, "ah…good you've come, just in time too, I was beginning to think you weren't going to show up, you are still full of surprises" haze said with a sinister grin on his face, "no…steele get out of here" he heard twilight yell, shortly before blade hit her over the head with the crossbow, to shut her up, but haze paid no attention.

When blade hit twilight, he nearly exploded, but he had no choice but to suppress it again, "let her go, haze, I'm here now, just let her go" Steele said as he stared his old friend in the eyes, his only response was a small chuckle from haze.

"ah…a tempting offer, steele, but you know me, I have always preferred the scenario where I have the upper hoof" he said as he pulled twilight by her mane, causing her to scream in pain, he then brought her in front of him, unsheathed a knife and brought it around her neck, and pressed it down lightly.

This made steele furious, as he went for his own knife, but was stopped by haze, "stop!, you move, and I slit her throat" he said with an evil glare, steele could see the seriousness In his eyes, so he had no choice but to give in.

"now…lets get straight down to business, I will give you one last chance to join me, and if you do I will spare her and her friends and they can go free, if you don't, well…lets just say that it will be her blood on your conscious" haze said as he slowly applied pressure on twilight's neck.

The whole room fell silent, as Steele and haze stared each other down, finally twilight spoke, even with her throat being strangled, she still managed to talk, "don't do it steele…just get out of here" she said, but was cut off by haze applying even more pressure, "quiet, the choice is his, not yours, let him decide" he said as he returned his attention back to steele, who had a solemn look on his face. After all the time he knew haze, steele could always tell, when he was serious and when he wasn't, haze was right about one thing, steele did care about twilight, he knew he couldn't risk her life, or the lives of others, his mind was in an intense conflict, until finally he made up his mind.

He just simply lowered his head, when he did this, haze smiled broadly, he lightly took off the pressure he put on twilight's neck earlier, "okay…you win haze, just please let her go" he said as he looked at twilight with sad eyes, haze only smiled wider, "sorry steele, but I know you to well, search him" he said to two of the guards that were standing beside him, the guards slowly approached him, when they were a mere few inched away, suddenly steele found new strength, as he grabbed one of their hoof's and applied so much pressure, he heard the sound of bone breaking, and the guard screamed in agony, as he threw that guard to the side, he turned around and bucked the other right in the jaw, with the momentum of his swing, he unsheathed his knife, and threw it at haze.

Instead of striking him in the head or the chest, he felt a small sharp pain In his hoof and saw that steele struck him in his hoof, as haze clutched his lightly bleeding hoof, he motioned for blade to shoot steele, when blade steadied the arrow, he pulled the trigger, steele, who was expecting this, quickly turned to his side, and he heard the arrow ricochet off his metal wing, he saw it fly right towards the wall, and strike a nearby lamp, when the arrow hit the lamp, it burst into flames and caught three nearby curtains on fire.

Steele then pounced into the air, and flew straight at haze, unfortunately haze was also a better fighter, and much quicker, as he was a mere yard away from haze, he saw him, quickly turn, and he felt a heavy sharp pain, in his chest as he wind was knocked out of him, as he landed painfully on the ground, he saw haze walking towards him, as he tried to get up again, he felt a sudden sharp and immense pain in his leg, when he looked down he saw a large arrow lodged in his leg.

When he used the same trick on rainbow dash, he yelled and screamed in agony, as he removed the arrow, he then noticed a crossbow lying a few feet away, as he slowly crawled to it, he reached with all his strength, and grabbed it, only to feel his hoof being stepped on, he looked up and saw, haze stepping on his left hoof, he then felt a hard smack across the face that sent him flying another three feet away.

As he tried to shake the dizziness off, he saw haze approaching him with an enraged look on his face, he tried to reach for his knife, as he drew it, he saw haze knock it out of his hoof, and again hit him, causing him to fall on his back, as he tried to crawl away, he felt an immense sharp pain in the hoof, that he had been shot in, when he turned around, he saw haze applying pressure on his injured hoof, causing steele to scream in agony.

When he was done, he said, "poor, steele" he said as he hit him again in the face, "you really thought that I didn't see that coming" he repeated the same motion of bringing down his hoof across his face, "you are risking your life for her and for this pathetic town, I have never seen a more pathetic pony such as yourself" he aid as he hit again only this time harder.

He then kicked steele onto his side, after he walked up, so that he could look steele in the eyes, who had blood coming from his nose and lip, he then unsheathed a knife, "such a pity, you've sacrificed your own life, and saved nopony" he said as he raised the knife above his head, and aimed it right at Steele's side, "say hello to star for me" he aid as he brought down the knife.

Instead of feeling the pain, he heard a familiar metallic clang, and then he heard haze screaming in pain, that was then he realized that haze hit his metal wing, he then laughed looked up and said, "you were right about one thing, I am full of surprises" he said as he spun around, and used his momentum, he then hit haze in the face multiple times, he then grabbed him and flew up in the air, he then kicked him in the jaw, hard enough to break it, and that sent haze flying into the ground below, when the dust from the impact cleared, he saw haze attempting to get up, but he failed and fell down unconscious.

When he landed on the ground, he looked around and found out that blade and most of his followers had fled, when he remembered about twilight, he found lying on her side unconscious, due to the loss of air, from haze choking her.

As he woke her up he used his knife to cut her ropes, when she was free, she jumped up and gave him a hug, "are you okay?" he asked, she simply nodded, suddenly Steele's eyes opened widely, as he remembered that the building was now on fire, due to him reflecting the arrow, "we have got to get out of here" he said pulling twilight up as they started running for the exit, as the building slowly began to collapse around them as they ran, steele felt that this was somewhat familiar, but he pushed that thought aside as they continued to run through the blaze.

Suddenly Steele's worst nightmare became real, when he heard twilight yell from behind him, when he turned around he saw that twilight's back hoof was pinned by a large fallen beam, that made it official, fate was indeed testing him again, when he ran back to her he tried bucking the beam in order to remove it, but to no avail.

"Steele help me, I can't move" he heard twilight yell, "it's too heavy I can't move it" he said as he looked in her with tears forming in both of theirs.

"it's okay, I understand, go steele, leave me here, save yourself" twilight yelled at him, it was then that he realized that those were the exact same words star said to him before he left her, and he wasn't going to do it again, "no…not this time!" he yelled as he turned around and bucked the beam, with all his new found might, the beam splintered in two, and freed twilight.

At this point the building was in total flames, and the smoke was getting to them, suddenly twilight, fell down again, not from a falling beam, but from exhaustion, he ran back to her and hauled her on his back, "this time we are getting out together, come on stay with me" he said as he ran and jumped through the flames, suddenly he saw a gasoline canister, to the side, as it slowly heated up, he made one last jump, through the fire, as it exploded right next to him, the fire barley missed him as they both landed hard on the ground, steele breathed in the fresh early morning air, when he turned to see an unmoving twilight, he got up and walked to her, "twilight…" he said with a weak voice, he then heard shouts from the front of the building, he saw the captain and twilight's friends running towards them.

When they got there he was asked over a million questions, but he simply ignored them, when they reached the front of the building he saw that, ponyville square was filled with members of the royal guard, who were attending to the now freed hostages, when they successfully got twilight to a medic, steele calmed down, but suddenly the morning was filled with cries for help, when they realized that they were coming from the burning town hall.

Suddenly he got a second wind, and made his way for the building, but was stopped by applejack, "whoa, you have done enough" she said stopping him, "no…the only reason we are here, is because of me, I have to finish this, I'm not going to let others suffer for my mistakes" he said as he ran back into the blazing building

(Inside town hall)

As he, again ran through the burning building, he was searching for any survivors, although he questioned himself for it, he found himself looking for haze, he knew that I he saved him he could stand trial, it would be better than burning to death.

As he returned to where he saw haze was unconscious, he only saw a large pile of wood and stone, he then saw a hoof sticking out of it, even though after all he did, Steele found himself crying, at the loss of his long time friend.

When he realized that the ones who cried for help, was merely a group of haze's soldier, he went to them and gave them instruction on how to get out, when they left steele continued his search for survivors, when steele was convinced he made his way for the exit following the soldiers, who had surrendered, as he neared the exit, he suddenly felt another sharp pain in his hoof, when he turned around he saw that it was his back hoof that was now pinned by a beam.

As Steele tried to free himself, again the smoke and his exhaustion, mixed with his injuries from his fight with haze, finally took their toll on him, he collapsed coughing his head off, all he could do was look around, he had a feeling deep down, that this was truly his end, suddenly all the memories, of star, his parents, the time when him and haze were still friends, and finally the memories with twilight.

He shed a single tear of happiness as he remembered the night they almost kissed back in haze's manor, merely a few days ago, when he looked up at the ceiling, "I'm so sorry twilight" he said as he looked up and saw a much larger beam falling straight for his head, he closed his eyes and accepted his fate, as he lay there waiting for death to take him, he felt no pain, when he opened his eyes he was blinded by a white light.

(Outside)

When steele never returned, they began to fear the worst, their fears were realized when the town hall collapsed completely due to the fast spreading fire, when the building fell, they all realized that steele was dead, when twilight's friends turned away, their eyes were full of tears, when the walked back to twilight who was still unconscious, due to the fast moving medics, they managed to get her in a stable position, soon they rode away in search of the nearest hospital.

"thank celestia, she's alright" fluttershy said as they all walked together, "yes, but it will devastate her, when we tell her what happened, twilight of all ponies should know, we have to tell her sooner or later" rarity said as they all walked back to their escort that would take them back to the castle.

A/N: wow…well only one more chapter to go, see you then for the end.


	16. Chapter 15

A/N: finally the last chapter, everyone please enjoy.

Wings of steel: chapter 15: the aftermath

(Twilight's P.O.V)

The last thing I remember seeing was steele running back into the burning building, I tried my best to call out to him, but before I could I felt the darkness take me again, and I passed out, at one point I must have regained consciousness, because I could see flashing white lights, and the sound of other ponies talking.

I also could have sworn I heard my friends talking, it made me feel better to know that they were alright, but I had a feeling that told me, something terrible had happened, I didn't get the chance before I found myself falling back asleep.

(Later…)

I must have been asleep for a few hours by now, because I found myself lying in the bed of a hospital, when I first regained consciousness, the first thing I heard was a very faint and muffled conversation, at first I couldn't see anything due to the overhead light, witch partially blinded me.

When my vision began to return as well as my hearing, I noticed very familiar blurry images, and familiar voices, "look I think she's finally waking up" I heard one voice say, it kinds sounded like rainbow dash, "you didn't think I would leave that easily" I said in a weak voice, when they heard me talk they turned to me and smile, by that time my hearing and sight, had finally returned and I could see the warm smiling faces of my friends.

"oh thank celestia you are awake, twilight" I heard my friend rarity say, by that time I tried to sit up fully in bed, but was helped by my friends, "whoa…calm down, your still hurt, let us help you" rainbow dash said as they all helped me up, I almost refused, because I didn't want to be thought of as a foal, but due to the dull pain in my side I decided to let them, help me sit up in bed.

The first thing I did was look around at the room, and then laid my eyes back on my friends. "What happened back there…did we stop haze, is ponyville safe" I began to ask frequently, but I was stopped by a hoof to the mouth by applejack, "calm down twilight, your safe in the hospital, you were in bad shape, but the doctors managed to fix you up just fine, you can leave the hospital later today, as for what happened, yes…we stopped haze, and ponyville is safe" applejack said with a warm smile on her face.

"Where are we and how long have I been out?" I asked rubbing my head, in confusion, "well, we are back in canterlot, at the hospital, as for how long you've been out, I would say about two days now" pinkie said as they all stared at me, when they said two days my eyes widened in shock, I could have sworn that I was only asleep for a few hours.

It was then that I noticed that one particular Pegasus was not there, I began to look around, when my friends noticed my curiosity, and they sighed and cleared their throats. When they did that I turned my attention back to them, "where's Steele, I thought he would be here" I asked as I looked my friend's in the eyes. "Twilight listen, Steele…he…" rarity said but stopped due the tears forming in her eyes.

My heart sank at that moment, but I had to know, "why, is he alright?" I asked impatiently, but the look on their faces told me everything, at that moment my heart shattered, "no…no, he can't be, you're lying! Tell me your lying!" I said as I felt tears pouring down my cheeks, "we are sorry twilight, steele didn't make it, he died protecting others by getting them out of the building before it collapsed, but he was too late" applejack said attempting to finish rarity's sentence, all their eyes had filled with tears, "please, tell me your lying" I said bawling now, my only response was all my friends coming to hug me and try and comfort me.

"I'm sorry twilight, but he really is gone" rainbow dash said a we all hugged each other, luckily I had my own room, or else the others would here my cries, the room soon became silent, when my friends left, they turned and told me, "his body was recovered from the rubble, the princess wanted to postpone the funeral, until you finally woke up" they said as they left the room, leaving me alone to my thoughts.

(The next day)

After my release from the hospital, I went to the castle, where I got multiple greetings, from other ponies, which had been there that night, when I met with the princess and the captain; they both gave me their condolences, for the loss of one of my closest friends.

Later that day, the princess held the funeral in the castle gardens, many ponies had arrived, my friends and I, along with Steele's parents, were in the front row, everyone was silent as both princess celestia and princess Luna walked up to begin the eulogy.

When princess celestia, cleared her throat, I could tell she was having difficulty, but she pulled through none the less. "we are gathered here today to honor and remember, one of the greatest hero's equestria has ever known, steele…was perhaps the bravest Pegasus I have ever known, he sacrificed so much and never asked for anything in return, he was the bravest, kindest, and friendliest pony that I have had the greatest pleasure of knowing, he sacrificed his life, for the protection of other's and those he cared about, we will never forget him, and now we say goodbye, thank you, steele, you will always be in out hearts" she finished with tears in her eyes, nopony has ever seen the princess cry, but considering the circumstances, nopony could blame her.

During the time of her speech I had turned to Steele's parents and they were crying just as much as I was, when she finished both princesses, placed a medal of honor, and one for bravery, on the coffin, then one of the guards pressed the pump, as the casket slowly descended into the ground, that was when I nearly lost it, tears poured down my cheeks at an uncontrollable rate, but I managed to suppress myself from completely losing my mind, I knew steele wouldn't want to see me like this, as it descended into the ground, the guards all began playing a heroic melody, in honor of the great hero, as if fate seemed to have a twisted sense of humor, it started raining right after the casket started descending, when it was fully in the ground, everyone began to leave, and go their separate ways, I saw Steele's parents take a small carriage back to clousdale.

I saw the princess make her way back into the castle, without speaking to anypony; I could tell she was very depressed, which wasn't unusual, since this was a day that silenced all of equestria.

Soon my friends and I made our way to a carriage which would take us to the canterlot, train station, where we would find a train and head back home to ponyville.

(Normal P.O.V)

As all the other ponies, made their way to their carriages, they were all unknowingly being watched by three separate ponies, who did not come to remember, steele, instead they came for their own reasons, as they watched the lavender unicorn and her friends board a carriage, the leader couldn't help but laugh to himself, "what's our next move ?" one of the three said as he looked to the leader, "yes, when do we take them out" said a female Pegasus with a dark grey coat and a light blue mane, as she walked forward a few feet, and up next to the leader, "patience, you will get you chance at revenge, soon enough, your training is nearly complete, soon you will reveal yourself to him" the leader said as he watched another hooded figure, who was also watching the funeral, when the other figure was spotted he flew off in the direction of the castle. He then watched the carriage go over the hill and out of sight.

"Ha…it's funny how they think that it's over, but they could never be more wrong, this is barely the beginning". He said as they turned and walked down the hill, suddenly they disappeared, in a bright flash.

THE END…?

A/N: finally my very first story is complete, I hope you all enjoyed, feel free to ask me any questions you might have, in a review, or just send me a message, bye for now.


End file.
